


Someday my Prince will come...

by gutterfortunecookie



Category: Loki - Fandom, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Disownment, F/M, Fluff, Heartbreak, Hydra (Marvel), Inhumans (Marvel), Kidnapping, Memories, Minor Injuries, Near Death, Nightmares, On the Run, Post-Ragnarok, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reunions, Smut, Unplanned Pregnancy, Wedding Night, Weddings, pyrokinesis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:26:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7889833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutterfortunecookie/pseuds/gutterfortunecookie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A technical analyst recalls a particular night on Shield payroll.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> So... I'm back? It's back a weird month...

 

_The heart beat from her chest as everything slowed._

_Bits of the cheap dry wall from the apartment walls flew through the loose strands of her hair. She remembered stopping with her arms empty as she had gotten to her feet._

_She turned, missing bullets to look for her baby. Her eyes found him cradled in black as she opened her mouth and screamed for him. It only disappeared under the grenade that went off near the oven in the kitchen, destroying everything the flames touched._

A scream woke her as she kicked herself awake. Adriana gasped for air, fighting all of her bodily functions as she scrambled to the playpen on the other side of the apartment. Tears fell down her face as she reached for her baby and held him close.

It was all strange.

The same dream for five years and the baby could feel it too.

“Shh, shh.”

The tiny baby in her arms wailed like she did silently as she carried him back to the living room. Adriana settled herself on the worn couch that she slept in more than the bed in the next room. She rocked herself back and forth, slowly calming the baby as she wiped the tears from his eyes.

“There we go. Boys don’t cry.”

He stopped crying but carried on fussing as she did everything that was routine to take care of him. Something was wrong with the baby. By now, it should have been ready for Pre-K but still, she carried him for the regular term and cared for her child. It couldn’t have been whatever Benjamin Button disease was presenting itself nowadays when outworld anomalies where slowly finding their way onto her world. It was her job however.

Just like Puente Antiguo, New Mexico…

Her mind drew a blink. A black blank with green eyes.

It was the baby’s pull on her hair that brought her back to reality.

“Ow! Shit, fine…”

She shook her hand to her baby and moved back to their familiar spot in front of the work TV as she stood at the wooden bookcase.

“Alright, Dag. You know the drill.”

Just a baby and still so smart as he arched in his mother’s arms as his green eyes found the open DVD case at of its place in the line of movies.

“ _Snow White_?”

He gurgled to her, raising his voice until she gave up and turned on the movie that stayed in the player night after night.

“Are you going to finish it this time? Give me some peace?”

She only held him close as she started the movie to where she left it before she put him down for his nap.

_“Once there was a princess…”_

_“Was the princess you?”_

Adriana smiled feeling the baby’s excited breath on her arm.

_“And she fell in love…”_

_“Was it hard to do?”_

_“It was very easy! Anyone could see that the prince was charming. The only one for me…”_

Her eyes began to shut as she felt a strangely familiar warmth on the back of her neck.

“… _all too easy, my dear…_ ”

She forced her eyes open and moved the table away from the front of the couch so Dag could rest on the floor. Her mind raced, wonderfully shamed with her son, their son falling asleep next to her in the sling to keep him on his back.

_“Was he strong and handsome?”_

_“Was he big and tall?”_

_“There’s nobody like him, anywhere at all.”_

That night and every night it was his silhouette that nearly crashed her car.

_“Did he say he loved you?”_

_“Did he steal a kiss?”_

All a dream, whether she was dreaming or lived it, she remembered him and brought their child into the world.

_“He was so romantic; I could not resist…”_

No matter how much she tried to tell herself, she could always feel him, his cold beautiful eyes, the touch of his hand. His body she was willingly pinned to the hotel wall, his lips pressed to hers.

Adriana sighed and closed her eyes.

She did not resist.

_…_

_“Where the hell is Jarrison?!”_

_“Turn around, Sitwell!”_

_He didn’t have to as the fresh meat analyst slammed her mountain armful of research on the table next to her Supervising officer._

_“That’s what you’ve been doing for the last few hours?”_

_“That’s what you’ve been paying me for.”_

_He looked blankly to the paperwork and turned back to his tablet._

_“Excellent work, Jarrison. Carry on. Can we get a table for her, please?”_

_“All the more to bend her over it…”_

_Adriana was new and understood that hazing would be involved as she moved up to level 6 territory, but it was all the same despite the ranks._

_“Hendricks! Congratulations, you get scat detail!”_

_“What?! That’s bullshit!”_

_All paid eyes where kept to the computer screens with ears trained on Sitwell’s soft chuckle._

_“I’m sorry, Hendricks. Would you like to take this matter of disrespect and harassment to Pierce?”_

_“You can’t fire me. I’m the best you have!”_

_“Not anymore. Present your badge in the morning, civilian.”_

_Sitwell turned back to the main panel, sorting through files as he turned his eyes to a stunned Adriana._

_“Jarrison, set an example. I don’t tolerate this nonsense in our work.”_

_“Yes, sir…”_

_“Speak up.”_

_“Yes, Sitwell.”_

_Adriana pushed her reading glasses back up her face as the dismissed officer stormed from the room but not before knocking her off her balance with his broad shoulder. She kept her eyes down as she and her paperwork fell to the floor of the mobile command center._

_“Get him off my site, now!”_

_“Is there a problem?”_

_Adriana turned her eyes up, meeting those of Agent Coulson who helped her from the floor. She only shook her head as she collected herself and wondered to the other side of the compound._

_“Agent Jarrison!”_

_She stopped at the doors of her trailer, not knowing that Coulson was following her._

_“Yes, sir?”_

_“Didn’t you near me call you?”_

_“Only the last time. Sorry…”_

_“Don’t be. I wanted to meet the great-granddaughter of Edward Jarrison. Sorry to hear about your father.”_

_“I don’t talk about it anymore. I’d rather be working.”_

_“All the more reason to put a smile on that face. I brought you presents. Come see.”_

_Adriana turned around the corner of her trailer to the tents set up for her, sealed to perfection as five trucks full of equipment were unloaded, quickly filling up the small space._

_“Jeez, did you raid a Radio Shack?”_

_“These are items that were collected to be appropriated and verified with the 0-8-4 in main containment and with Hendricks gone, I now offer you the position of Senior Outward Analyst.”_

_“Sorry, what?”_

_“Congratulations, Miss Jarrison. You’ve got quite a day ahead of you.”_

_She shook his hand without realizing it._

_“Th-thank you, sir.”_

_“Word of the wise. I’ve been informed most of this equipment is home-made and delicate so try to handle with care as you report back to Sitwell. Try and make it under a few hours.”_

_She began her work at once, marveling in most of the equipment. She wasn’t as hands on as most around her were but she could understand what each thing did. After the first hour, she had to stop and rearrange the equipment from three points of view. After she finished, she was able to follow the story of the three scientists that the machinery was taken from._

_She wasn’t an idiot; she knew how the things were taken with Shield. Day had quickly bled to night as she made her way to the main containment area where Sitwell was. Thunder rolled overhead of her as she pulled her suit jacket tighter, not remembering if it was supposed to rain or not. The sound of blaring alarms and failing lights got her attention as Shield scattered around her._

_Adriana panicked, running for Sitwell as he yelled into a com._

_“Jarrison! Get back to your area and lock it down! We’ll get you when everything is secure. Agent Barton will assist you back.”_

_“Who the hell is Agent Barton?”_

_“Ma’am, if you please…”_

_She was pulled from her feet through the sheets of falling rain as they found shelter in main containment._

_“Wait, wait! I can’t be in here; I don’t have the clearance.”_

_“Barton! We need eyes!”_

_“Shit, here… My passcode is 233469!”_

_She blinked finding a loaded gun and his ID in her hands as he turned, vanishing from sight. She fled in the opposite direction as heavily armed mercs passed her with their shouting growing the further she ran. She ran clear out of her heels, soon finding herself trapped at the north entrance. The only way out would to run directly through the containment field. She could face termination but she valued her life more as she punched in Barton’s passcode._

_“You! There!”_

_Adriana turned to the strong voice of someone obviously not belonging with Shield. The door opened behind as the brawny, blond man stepped forward to her._

_“Please move aside. I wish not to fight you.”_

_He looked her gently enough aside as her back hit the doorway. She was petrified for a moment, pushed away like she had been for a while now._

_“…and the mice shall be pushed aside, typical of a would-be-king…”_

_The breath caught in her throat as she turned her head up to another figure obviously not belonging to Shield. It was a man, tall, combed back raven black hair as he turned his head in the direction the blond man disappeared._

_“…nothing but useless cattle, the humans…”_

_“I fucking show you useless.”_

_She pulled the gun from the waist band of her skirt and marched for the shouting that laid ahead of her._

_“Sir?! You can’t be down here! That’s an order!”_

_Her arm raised as she turned the corner, remembering the black tailored suit of the black haired man and the fast approaching bodies of the blond man and the security guard that had tackled him from his feet. The three of them crashed through the plastic and into the storm, landing in the mud as Adriana’s gun fired out of instinct._

_“Barton! What the hell was that?!”_

_“Jarrison’s down!”_

_“Down? She was shot?!”_

_“No, she fired. She’s just knocked out. Now it’s just your guy…”_

_The heavy rain woke her as Adriana turned her head up to the light blur that had scooped her up from the mud and carried back inside._

_“My apologies, my Lady. I never meant for you to get hurt.”_

_Through the cold, she could feel something warm trickle down the side of her face. The man turned away, walking to the 0-8-4 as the second, darker blur crouched over her. She could feel herself slipping from consciousness as the sounds of heavy boots and his sigh left her ears._

_“…never has a wench stood tall to the almighty Th…”_

_-_

_“Don’t go anywhere…”_

_Agent Coulson clenched his jaw and walked from the holding cell, knowing very well the blond man could escape if he wanted to. He turned a quick corner to the chair where Adriana had just woken._

_“Ma’am, hold still.”_

_“Move! I need to see Sitwell…”_

_“Adriana, you need to slow down. You’ve got one hell of a concussion.”_

_“Coulson. There was someone else here. He had an accomplice.”_

_“There was no one else that witnessed it.”_

_“But I did. He had on a black suit. I could tell he wasn't one of ours!”_

_“Comms and most of the surveillance were useless to us. If he was there, he’d be long gone by now. Barton did a sweep. I gave him his things back. I’ll have someone take you home.”_

_“I can drive myself.”_

_“Not with a concussion.”_

_“You obviously don’t remember how well I drive drunk.”_

_“I have no time for this. Wait here.”_

_She followed quietly behind Coulson and exited through another way as she started for her trailer._

_“Hey, Jarrison. Is it true that you tried to take on two guys at once? That would explain how you made level 4…”_

_A sea of rude laughter spread throughout the hall of injured detail that had just finished getting their asses handed to them by the blond man as she smiled on the inside. A part of her wanted to do field work but she wasn’t the most agile being. Her father and mother had been trained agents, showing her how to defend herself. She could have held her own if she had wanted to but chose to hold her throbbing head high for the sake of her pride as she gathered her things and headed to her car._

_A foul smell of fresh paint filled her nose as she rounded the back of her and saw the spray paint that covered the doors in big, black letters._

_“Slut? Well, that’s gonna be my screen saver…”_

_She took a few pictures for Sitwell to laugh at and dragged herself to put her car in gear and move it towards town. For the first few miles, her body began to ache from the impact to when she hit the thick mud. If the ground had been any harder, she could have been in a much worse state than she would have been now._

_Her dark eyes had begun to drift as her grip loosened from the stirring wheel. She pried her eyes opened and focused on the road ahead._

_“Almost ther…”_

_Her lights found a block in the road in a matter of seconds. She blinked, seeing a black dress jacket and venomous green eyes. The second man from the containment area had turned with a smile to his face and slammed his fist down on the hood on the car as it tilted up from the force. The car flipped over the man as Adriana screamed, doing whatever she could to shield herself as the car flipped in the mud._

_Her head hit the side of the car, making her head worse as her body hung from the seatbelt. Her arms hung over her head as she watched the polished footsteps head in her direction, finally disappearing behind her eyes…_

Adriana woke, this time without screaming and waking the baby. She never dreamed of the crash unless something was coming. Her head turned to the playpen where her son was finally asleep. Her mind did a quick assessment of the things in the apartment that she actually needed and settled a second later when she looked to the loaded diaper sack and backpack tucked away but accessible when needed.

It would pain her to leave again but it had to be done.

Outside the sun was slowly starting to set. Another few hours and she would take her son and disappear again. It was the fatigue that finally did her in as the movie inches from her started itself over again with the opening music lulling her to ignore the footsteps in the hallway outside her door.

_The shouting on the outside of her motel door woke her as she tried to sit up._

_“Fuck me!”_

_She formed her hand to her side as she lifted her loose shirt to see the large bruise, disappearing into the waistband of her shorts. Adriana remembered the car at once. She flung the sheets back and ran to the window, seeing no cars with the exception to the filled parking lot for the bar across the way as she pushed her brunette hair from her shoulder._

_Adriana flipped on the light in the rented room and looked to her healed but cut arms and legs. She rushed to the bathroom mirror, seeing bruises litter her skin._

_“What the fuck?”_

_She couldn’t understand how she was alive but she knew there were footsteps close enough to be in the room. She grabbed what she could, pulling the Icer from its holster under the sink and turned, only to be pulled from her feet and thrown into the door. There was a blur that she couldn’t follow as she got to her feet._

_“Who’s there? Did you write that shit on my car?!”_

_“As if I could have the time for jests…”_

_The blur moved from the shadows and lifted her from her feet. Adriana grunted out in pain as her whole body pulsed. She looked down, more up to the man that she had seen before she passed out near the containment area._

_“But there is something I need from you,” he sneered as he plucked the gun from her hand and tossed the simple machinery behind him._

_“Who are you? I have nothing you want.”_

_“You have knowledge of me presence.”_

_“You’re too late. People know…”_

_He inched his face closer to hers and inhaled the skin on her neck._

_“Well, then,” he chuckled as he moved his face closer to hers, “You’ll just have to disappear, now won’t you?”_

_She panicked, pulling the thin needle from her hair and stabbed the man in the collarbone as he cried out and held her tighter to the wall._

_“That was not wise at all, for I am not my brother,” he winced with the dress jacket stuck to the needle as he pulled it from his skin._

_She watched as the small hole closed, sealing the wound and stopping his impossibly dark blood from blending down his expensive looking clothes._

_“What the fuck are you,” she panted as she tried to kick him away._

_“I am Loki,” he whispered into her ear, “and you just messed with the wrong God.”_

_He gripped her jaw tightly, making her completely immobile as he pressed himself fully against her body. She didn’t expect his lips to press to hers as she started to slowly warm his skin. She couldn’t remember a recent time that a kiss made her so calm, despite her current situation. His hand drifted up her sleeping shorts, slowly caressing her skin as he kissed her a second time, this time deeper as he grinded his hips into hers._

_His fingertips traced the goosebumps on the outside of her hips, slowly making their way up to the bare curve of her ass. He moaned into her lips._

_“What are you hiding,” he whispered._

_He found what he was looking for as he pulled the brass knuckles from the waistband of her shorts. He flaunted the metal in front of her face as he backed away, leaving her pinned with a spell that she was completely oblivious to. Loki looked over his shoulder to her room as more glowing appeared with weapons revealing their positions._

_“Well, now. A woman after my own heart. Perhaps you should have taken on my brother…”_

_A faint glow from a pillow on the bed got his attention as he reached and pulled a cheap toy, making her blush._

_“Why so ashamed, little shadow?”_

_He brought the toy to his nose, inhaling as his eyes sank shut, giving Adriana to reach into the side of her bra._

_“You wish to be seen don’t you, pet? To be marveled by those around you?”_

_“No.”_

_“I can see it in your eyes.”_

_“I could give a shit about being seen.”_

_“You weren’t supposed to see me.”_

_“Your mistake.”_

_Her hand shot out with a needle of toxin waiting in a syringe, piercing deep into his neck. She thrusted down and squeezed the syringe as Loki fell to his knees in pain._

_“I could also give a shit if you’re a God or about anyone else. You messed with the wrong loaded woman.”_

_Loki snarled, clearly working the toxin out of his system, reaching for her as she flipped herself across the bed. She tripped, feeling Loki’s hand wrapped around her ankle as he lunged for her. Adriana brought both feet to her chest and kicked Loki into the bathroom door as she used the momentum of the roll to get to her feet and run for the door. If she was lucky, she could get the attention of the patrons of the bar before she was killed, if that was what he was planning for her._

_Adriana flung the door back and inhaled to scream, only to be met with the starting sunset of a scenery that didn’t belong to her. Her eyes raced from left to right as she saw nothing but gold, majestic buildings in her line of vision. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and already knew it was Loki trying to drag her away. Her hand found the dagger at his waist with her elbow shooting up and striking him in the face as she was able to slip away and looked for cover in the lavished bedroom that towered over her._

_Loki grabbed her by the back of her flowing hair and turned her, not seeing her closed fist as it struck too to his neck as he fought to breathe. Adriana was so close to the bedroom door as Loki used his magic to pull her from her feet and send her crashing to the wall near his bed. She stopped fighting for a moment, trying to regain her senses as Loki’s neck healed, helping him breath better._

_“Nearly a reincarnation of Sif. For one that wished to remain unseen, you have captured my attention, in ways more than just one.”_

_Adriana tried to slink away, fearing she was going to die as Loki reached out for her. Tears fell from her eyes as she swung her fists to defend herself as best as she could manage. Loki pushed her forward, pinning her by the neck to his bed as he panted from the fight._

_The fight. A good few decade of women throwing themselves at him and she was the only maiden not to swayed by his silver tongue. At least, not yet…_

_He lowered himself over Adriana, running his tongue over her trail of tears as he turned her head to the side so that he could be heard clearly._

_“Why a simple wench like you?”_

_“W-What?”_

_“I only wanted to kill you but you fought. You dangled like a trapped animal and you fought for your life. If they find proof, I may end your life but you are making it difficult… I changed my mind and then again, but still…”_

_He groaned, kissing the side of her neck as she shuddered._

_“Why must you say no when the reactions of your body beg for more? I may not need to kill you after all.”_

_He let her jaw go, letting her move her head as she turned to him in confusion. Before she could ask him anything, he washed himself over her, stripping himself slowly. Bit by bit, the clothes vanished, not from sight but into thin air as they disappeared in a green haze until he was bare over her. Adriana was still scared but took him in as she began to memorize most of his anatomy._

_Loki licked his lips almost ready in a decision about the mortal as his hands disappeared under her clothes. His lips found her again, making her submit easier as his hands canvassed her skin. Adriana had no idea what she was doing as she allowed Loki to hold, to touch her as she felt a wonderful ache between her legs that made the rest of her ache less._

_With a strong hand, Loki pulled the weak shirt from her body as the other slipped past the waist band of her shorts. His fingers found her wet as he moved them up and down her core. Adriana hadn’t been intimate in so long as she felt her body reacting on its own. His lips kissed at her chest and up her neck as she felt more warmth join the bed._

_She opened her eyes in alarm as a clone of Loki took a place on the left of her, dragging his tongue up her rib cage, healing her bruises. The first moved down her body, pulling the shorts with him as Adriana was left completely naked to a third Loki that latched himself to her unoccupied breast. There were hands, lips, teeth nipping playfully at her skin as she left herself pulled in ever ywhich direction._

_She looked down between her legs, seeing them spread as Loki licked his lips and lowered his head. She jumped as her clit was greeted by his strong tongue tasting her. Her head tilted back for a moan, only to be silenced as a fourth Loki tilted her jaw open and pushed his cock between her lips, making the clone hissed through his teeth from the heat of her mouth. She was finally immobile as she let go of everything but the bedspread her hands found._

_She did what she could to take Loki, only wanting to taste more as she moaned around his cock. Her upper half was more that occupied as each Loki took turns nipping as her hardened peak to the crook of her neck. Her legs were pinned further apart as Loki pushed his tongue into her core._

_“My, my, little Adriana. I had my mind set as a warrior should but from your delicious reactions, you have made this all too easy, my dear.”_

_She wasn’t sure where or which clone his voice came from but she didn’t care. Her body rocked between the clones needing more. The clones were gone in a second as Adriana was left panting, confused and alone on the bed. Her eyes found Loki across the room, still half dress ass he slowly pumped his cock for her to see. Adriana didn’t want to admit that her mouth watered watching him or that she wanted him so badly._

_“That’s more like it,” he smiled as he motioned her forward._

_She was still but moved forward as Loki’s quick hand stopped her._

_“You crave me, pet?”_

_“Y-yes.”_

_“I didn’t hear you.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Good. Crawl to me.”_

_Adriana dropped to her knees calmly, taking her time as she crawled across the bedroom to Loki. Her eyes dropped to his cock as he pumped it again to draw her forward. She met his eyes again as she stopped in front of him, satisfying his success in making her submit to him. Loki reclined further in his couch and snapped his fingers as a dark scarf on the floor wrapped itself tightly around her neck and her hands together behind her back._

_She arched her head forward to his cock only for it pulling her neck from the scarf. Loki waved his hand, rendering himself bare to Adriana as he safely guided her neck forward. She didn’t wait for a command or permission as she opened her mouth and worked it slowly down his cock. Loki moaned, sliding further down the couch as she bobbed her head faster, taking more of his with every shift of her neck._

_Loki gathered her hair and watched her simple Midgardian lust overcome her. Hidden potential of lust just waiting to be used until she saw the heavens. Loki was glad he hadn’t killed her when he had the chance._

_“Good girl,” he praised._

_She let him go, using her tongue to taste the tips of him as he throbbed worse. If he didn’t have her, he would die…_

_Loki pulled her away and turned her on his lap. The scarf stretched with the ends wrapping around her knees and spreading her wide as Loki held her close._

_“There was no way this can be real,” she thought to herself._

_“It is,” growled Loki, “and I will make it so that you stay this way until the end of time.”_

_Loki shifted his hips, filling Adriana with a single thrust as her head fell back. He held her in place, holding her steady as he was nearly consumed by the heat of her core. She was held apart and used to a liking she never knew existed. Loki slowed his hips for a moment, letting Adriana indulge herself as she grinded her hips on his lap. He laced his fingers into her hair, securing his grip on her as he turned her into the plush couch face first as she tried to look back to Loki._

_He pulled out of her, tracing her wet lips, teasing her terribly as she tried to push herself back. Loki held her still, striking her on her bottom as she yelped. He shifted his lips forward, filling her again as she moaned into the cushions. He pulled away again, moving from the couch as Adriana was left open and exposed on the couch. Loki knelt down to her open legs as he darted his head forward to taste. She rocked her hips onto his tongue, leaving a smile to his face._

_He jerked her back to the seat of the couch as Adriana panted for breath. Her chest heaved as Loki found himself mesmerized, crawling up her writhing body until he met her eyes. He waved his hand, making the scarf vanish and her hands free as he pinned them to either side of her head. His lust took him over as Loki snaked himself between her legs and filling her, never stopping his hips as Adriana refused to keep herself quiet._

_Her moans beautifully filled his ears, making him need more as he lifted her legs over his arms, fucked her deeper into the couch. Adriana dug her nails deeper into Loki’s shoulder to anchor herself as she clung to him for dear life. His thrusts became sharper, counting as he even grinded himself into her swollen clit._

_His breath coated the side of her neck as his lips did as he could feel her body approaching its release._

_“Come for me,” he coaxed her, “I want to feel your true strength.”_

_He pressed his thumb to her clit and refused to stop as she grabbed the cushions underneath her._

_“I can’t,” she panted._

_Loki sank his teeth into her neck and pounded his hips harder as Adriana’s voice carried to the rafter of his bedchambers. The night was his as was the throne. He could have cared less if a stray guard or servants heard the mortal as she refused to silence her wicked moans while he claimed what was his._

_“That’s it. Feel me…”_

_Her body arched suddenly in his arms with the voice in her throat stolen from her as a silent scream pouring from her lips. Loki claimed them as well, massaging his tongue to hers as he fucked her through her release. He pressed his thumb harder, pulling her to a second release as he groaned into her neck. He panted like a wild beast, rutting into her as her quim drew him that much closer. He begged himself to hold on but couldn’t as he dug his nails into her hips as he emptied himself into her._

_He grunted, catching his breath as he settled himself to the couch as he remembered the warmth underneath him. He willed his eyes open as he looked to the beautiful wench recovering on the dark cushions. He had so many plans for her. He was going to take the memories from her and make her pay for her fight but she was more than he could have asked for. He couldn’t even find it in himself to keep her as his pet._

_Loki sank to his knees beside the couch, remembering everything he could about her. His actions towards Asgard and that of Jotunnhiem would have him imprisoned, putting her in danger. He shook his head and leaned forward, taking her lips, this time as a promise as she opened her eyes._

_Adriana could feel something wrong as Loki slowly pulled away from her, forming his fingers to the side of her ribs._

_“I am so sorry, Adriana.”_

_She looked down to his glowing hand as her bones began to weaken. A painful crack was felt under her skin as she shrieked. Loki held her down, undoing his magic, hurting him less than he was hurting her. Blood appeared from her renewed cuts and her work attire formed to her bleeding skin as she shook her head to Loki, making blood from the cut on her head mix into her dark hair._

_“Stop it! It hurts! What are you doing?!”_

_He kissed her once final time._

_“This is the only way,” he choked as he pushed all of his emotions aside, “I will be back for you. You have my word.”_

_He traced the side of her anguish-filled face before it could disappear. He held back his tears, conflicted in his thoughts of her as he curled his fingers into his couch and roared in heartache._

_“What the hell?!”_

_Barton slammed his breaks, nearly crashing the convey behind him as all the vehicles made their own alternate route. He jumped from the car with Coulson behind him as they raced from the shrieking emitting from the flipped car._

_“Jarrison?”_

_Coulson pulled the radio from his belt radioing for available medics and a tow truck as Clint was on his stomach to find Adriana clawing hysterically at her seat belt._

_“No,” she sobbed._

_“Adriana! Remember me? We’re here.”_

_“I have to go back! Get me out!!”_

_Adriana kicked and pulled at her seat belt, making the car rock on its hood. Clint reached into his boot for his Icer as he shot Adriana, neutralizing her before she could further injure herself. He shook his head, assessing the rest of the car with the damage of the marked telephone pole yards away and the scratched lettering that would be interesting once it reached Human Recourses._

_Clint could see the impatience of Coulson as he got to his feet._

_“Sir, you’re needed. I’ll stay.”_

_“Good. I want the people responsible found. I’d rather you bring in Hendricks alive.”_

_“Yes, sir.”_

_He stayed looking into the car, seeing the still streaming tears fall from her closed eyes._


	2. Runaway as fast as you can

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My OFC's name was originally going to be Samantha but I changed it to Adriana after Adriana Caselotti who voiced Snow White in _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves._

_ _

 

_Three weeks, bedridden with injuries from the car crash. Hendricks confessed to cutting the brakes and vandalizing her car. Loki could have very well been saving her from crashing on the outskirts of town._

_One week, psychiatric hold. She screamed his name but no one cared to listen, thinking she was crying out for something else. When she gave in to her exhaustion and went to therapy, they deduced it was from hours of being in the wreckage of the crash._

_Four months of silence, only broken for her orders as one of a few level 7 Senior Analysts. She was respected, feared in a sense and was waiting for clearance to hop on for further study of Project Pegasus._

_The only two hours she had to herself, her weakly terrified fingers scrolled through her inbox and her PowerPoint modules to finish her work for the presentation that could make her make a more solid position or else she’d be laughed back to NASA with her tail between her legs. Some knew the stories of New Mexico but she told no one of Loki. No one would have believed her._

_All in all, it was a man’s world out there and she did what she could to survive._

_Adriana clutched her heels in one hand as she sprinted down the halls of the Hub ignoring the Shield with bags of research swinging from her arms. She pressed her newer badge to the sealed office as the doors slid open and let her in. Time was against her as she set the room up to her liking. Praying Pierce would attend so another superior would be on her side._

_She ignored the other experienced analysts and previous heads of leading research corporations across the country; a meeting this small wouldn’t need international matter unless it was necessary or important. Sitwell took a place beside her, helping her sort through the last of her findings._

_“Daggard would have been proud.”_

_“Thank, Sitwell. No pressure there.”_

_She was still sour at the death of her father, slain from a peacekeeping mission torn to shreds by the Ten Rings. Rather than focus on the world around her, Adriana kept to skies as she completed to input for the algorithm she’d been working on for countless months before and after New Mexico.._

_“That’s it…”_

_“Show time,” whispered Sitwell as he disappeared to find a seat. Adriana stood up straight and took a breath. She turned and met every dead eye in the room._

_“Gentlemen. Lady, uh, Ms. Hand. July 8 th, 1947. Roswell, New Mexico. Incidents folded. Records stricken of a weather balloon crash causing mass hysteria up to the day.” _

_She held the remote tightly in her hand as she lowered the lights. She regretted not eating beforehand._

_“Civilian paranoia increased a month after the crash and we technically told the truth. Same evening, 2 nd Officer, Edward James Jarrison, and a second officer were in charge of moving the balloon and in doing so were unknowingly transporting the being, as the word you don’t like to use, or 0-8-4 that was still yet to be identified to this day.”_

_Adriana held her breath and flipped to the next slide._

_“The morning of July 9 th, the remains of 2nd Officer Jarrison and his fellow solider where found in the containment area. Their bodies electrocuted literally beyond comprehension. Skin charred with no pit of origin of wound. Bodies were also drained of any and all fluids.”_

_“We know about the reports.”_

_“You weren’t in New Mexico in ’47 and you weren’t there 4 months ago. Five people were witness to a town that no longer exists. The space above our heads became that much bigger and none of you are worried. What happens if the next thing that comes out of the sky isn’t as much of an ally as Thor was. Now, we can’t call him like 911 but we can have a police scanner that…”_

_Adriana swayed on her feet, feeling light headed._

_“Sorry. We can gather all of the warheads we want but we have the brightest of minds in our Academies, forwarding our defense and offenses if nee…”_

_“Jarrison!”_

_Adriana embraced the dark as her eyes rolled to the back of her head._

_“Adriana.”_

_She moaned as her hand found the ice pack on the top of her head._

_“There you go. She’s all yours.”_

_“Thank you for your time, Mr. Sitwell_ _. I’ll take it from here. Alright, take it slow._ _”_

_Adriana opened her eyes to the darkened med room she was in earlier in the day as mandatory of her promotion._

_“Dr._ _Streiten? What happened?_ _”_

_The doctor looked over his shoulder as the sliding doors closed._

_“You passed out during your presentation from all the stories I heard.”_

_“Look, it’s not trauma.”_

_“My father knew your grandfather. Good man.”_

_“Doc, please. I’m fine.”_

_“No more nightmares?”_

_“No more than usual.”_

_There was no point in lying to him. He was one of the only physicians to not view her as crazy and she appreciated that._

_“I didn’t eat, that was all.”_

_“You didn’t drink either. You need to watch it from now on or else your body won’t take it.”_

_“I’m fine!”_

_“Adriana,” he sighed as he looked her in the eyes, “you’re pregnant.”_

_Her mouth dropped as she stared blankly at the doctor._

_“Fuck what? I’m sorry. I think I just heard circus music…”_

_“I know you’re trying to get onto the Pegasus project but I know a few people to help you…”_

_“Shut up, I need to find Sitwell.”_

_“Adriana!”_

_Streiten got to his feet, stopping her._

_“Look. I don’t know what your situation is but you finished overcoming the crash and with the psych hold on your record, I need you think about this for at least the night before acting. I’m not telling you what to do but rest tonight and then see me in the morning. I have some number you can call if you need them.”_

_She shook her head as she backed away._

_“No, just… just give me the numbers now. I don’t know what I’m gonna do but I’d rather have options.”_

_“Promise me, you’ll wait.”_

_“6am sound good?”_

_“Sounds early,” he chuckled as he turned to his desk and wrote down a sheet full of numbers for Adriana._

_She took the paper, leaving with a blankly clouded mind as she made her way back to her office. She laid herself on her couch, dark and almost as lavish as Loki had as she held her stomach, letting the events of that night haunt her. She ignored the rays of sun as they disappeared from her office, leaving her to herself._

_Her cell phone sounded off on her desk as she let it make noise. She had thought of nothing and everything as she sat at her bare desk and logged on to her server to check the status of her work. Everything had checked out as she scanned potential candidates from several people that would work under her. It was strange to be in a position of power, smiling for a moment as a few camouflaged channels appeared on her digital board next to her._

_Lately, she was finding codes and incrackable patterns through the empty sub-spaces of the Hub’s server. What was strange is that they weren’t coming or going to the same routers but a few select such as Strike tactical and the carrier engineers to higher up as far as Pierce and possibly Sitwell._

_Sitwell was normally quiet about his work and only really talked to those that mattered and to Fury when the mood required it. All she need was a single letter to fill in the blanks._

_“I’ll take A for $200, Alex,” she sighed as she input a random code to use up some time until she talked to Sitwell in the morning._

_She found a vending machine, attempting to choose something. The sound of heavy boots got her attention as they marched in the direction of her office. She moved to the shadows and pulled up the bug she planted in her office in case anyone would ever try her sabotage her the way Hendricks did._

_“She found it.”_

_Sitwell._

_“That’s not all, sir.”_

_Her face drained of color as she heard Hendricks’ voice coming through her speaker. She made her way through the back hallways as she listened to things being overturned in her office. Adriana no longer carried a purse but her work phone was left on the desk as she heard Sitwell mumbling to himself._

_“She’ll side with us.”_

_“Yeah, I hear she’s like that.”_

_“You’re only back to take her position. This time no brakes. It’ll raise suspicion.”_

_She didn’t know where to turn as she made her way to the front lobby where a new hire stepped in front of her._

_“Miss Jarrison. I’m gonna need yo…”_

_Adriana pulled the Icer from her sleeve and shot the man as he slumped unconscious to the ground. She quickly grabbed everything she could, his gun, wallet and hurried in the cover of night to the parking lot where she drove away and silently made her way into the streets of DC._

_“Enough! There’s nothing here! Where is she? Check at the front. Hendricks, go through her things I want her found.”_

_“Hail Hydra, sir.”_

_The sound of a gunshot nearly made her crash her car as she quickly pulled into a gas station. Static was heard over the speakers as Sitwell sighed._

_“Anyone else want to join Hendricks?”_

_“What the fuck?”_

_“What was that?”_

_Adriana stumbled from her car, getting sick as a loud screech filled her ears._

_“Found it. It’s interfering with the phone speakers. Come back in, Jarrison. We only want to talk.”_

_“Go to hell.”_

_She disengaged the connection to her bug and walked as calmly as she could to the ATM in the back of the gas station, procuring enough as she disconnected herself from her phone, running it over as she sped off as far away from DC as she could manage._

She woke again, seeing Dag staring blankly at the singing dwarves as they swung their pick axes in perfect tune. Adriana moved to the bathroom, running her head under the weak faucet to cool her headache. She had long run out of an NSAID and was paranoid about leaving more than she needed to. She rested on the floor in the doorway, seeing her son interacting with the colorful images as she turned her head to the rusty bathtub.

_There was a diaper bag ready to go as she was. Weeks, days, hours…_

_She tried to rest as much as she could, only going out to get what she needed and in her condition it was unbearable with all of her cravings. Sitwell was good at weeding out people of interest but Adriana knew what to look for. She cared for herself and the baby as much as she could, trusting a few people to examine her as she grew._

_Nowadays, she stayed in a weekly rented room, stuffing herself with PBJ’s in order to keep herself safe. The only upside was that she got to sleep as much as she wanted to. That and she was never really alone, no matter how much she cried out for Loki in her sleep. Adriana bonded with the baby every day, refusing to detach herself from it._

_She looked to the news, seeing the collapse of the NASA center where she would have been. Maybe running with the baby was meant as a blessing. She prayed that Sitwell was there, in a “no longer living sense”; one more traitor down and out of Shield but they were everywhere and she knew not who to trust but herself and her better instinct that kept her alive and uncaptured. All through the night, her sides pained her as the baby moved continuously, waking her as she started her usual habit of Nutella and juice._

_Adriana fell back softly to the bed, feeling larger than usual as she felt a warm throb between her legs. He came to her mind, easing her a bit as she imagined what he would do. From time to time, she imagined herself tied up for his use. It helped her to see this, to keep her mind occupied as her hand slowly reached down past her belly. She stopped, feeling nothing else as she turned to her side and propped herself on the pillow._

_She was too tired to cry as the baby kicked her hard in her side._

_“What’s wrong, sweetie,” she whispered as she rubbed her stomach._

_A worse pain stung her side as it pulled her from the bed and to the toilet as she got sick from the intensity. She could feel her body weaken as she braced the cheap bath behind her. Adriana pushed herelf up, feeling a rush of water between her legs as she was struck in fear._

_“Shit, shit, shit…”_

_She moved as fast as she could, pulling her bags to the bathroom through her contractions. Her fingers raced across the numbers on her burner as she was met with dial tones and dead ends. The pain got worse as she sat on the toilet and cried. She swallowed her fear and dialed the last person that could help her._

_The contractions stopped for a bit as the line rang._

_“This is_ _Streiten._ _”_

_“The contractions are happening too fast. Tell me what to do.”_

_“Who is this?”_

_“Please,” she sobbed, “I can’t go to a hospital!”_

_“Adriana.”_

_His softened to a whispered alarm as she heard him moving on the other side of the phone._

_“No one’s answering and you said-you said they could help me!”_

_She cried out as the contractions started again. She pulled off her underwear and felt herself crushing the doorknob._

_“Adriana. Tell me where you are.”_

_“I can’t. They’ll find me and they’ll find you.”_

_“I haven’t told anyone about you. I didn’t file your test.”_

_“Tell me how to deliver this fucking baby!!”_

_“Fine, do you have any painkillers?”_

_“There’s a mini bar.”_

_“Good. Take something with a small percentage. You’ll need it in doses. You’ll need something for the cord.”_

_“I have a nail clipper and hair pins.”_

_“Start a lukewarm tub and sterilize everything.”_

_She worked quickly, forcing herself as she saw a bit of red falling between her legs._

_“I’m bleeding,” she choked as she held onto the side of the tub._

_“Adriana get into the tub now. You’re going to have to push. I have someone coming to you.”_

_“My door’s locked. You can’t find me.”_

_“Just hold and push. Push now!”_

_Adriana settled herself in and took a deep breath, screaming as the pain coursed through her. Color began flooding her vision as she downed a few bottles of liquor for the push. She quickly tired hearing a familiar voice._

_“Kneel before me.”_

_The eerie light from the bathroom flickered as she pushed again._

_“Loki?”_

_She turned her head, seeing people flee in a panic as she was kneeling, hidden in a nearby water fountain._

_“I said KNEEL!”_

_His voice rang in her ears as everyone was brought to their knees in fear._

_“Loki…”_

_Her whimper of pain got the attention of a nearby clone as he turned recognizing her as the concrete siding covered her lower half._

_“My, my. How the fates have reunited us?”_

_“You fucking asshole!”_

_He had changed, clearly going through signs of withdrawal but calming as he cupped her sweating face._

_“Looks like you need a reminder to whom you belong to, pet.”_

_He reached out to her only for her to grab his wrist as she pulled him to the bathroom. Adriana cried out in pain as Loki saw her fully submerged in water that was quickly turning red._

_“Adriana?”_

_“Please, help me.”_

_His feralness disappeared as he felt her stomach and stroked the side of her face, easing her a bit as she let go of his hand. He disappeared from her sight as she spread her legs as far as she could and pushed. There was a rush that she did feel as she unplugged the water before it could spill over. She steadied her breath and reached down to the discolored object underneath her._

_Adriana was completely speechless as she cradled a dark blue, cold baby as it refused to breathe. Her whole body trembled as she held it, her little boy close and rocked him back and forth. She was too grief to hear the baby gasp for air as it wailed and grabbed onto her. She worked through her shock and cut the cord, moving cautiously through her hotel room as her head began to spin._

_Adriana had no strength to unlock her door as she pulled herself to the bed with her small son, holding him close and shielding him for what was about to come._

_Her door kicked open as Adriana waited with a loaded gun pointed at the door. Her fatigue saved the doctor as she fell back to the bed._

_“I to-told you not to come.”_

_“Who do you really trust,” smiled the Dr._ _Streiten as he helped Adriana properly to the bed._

_“Who is that,” she nodded to the young woman waiting with medical bags._

_“Got her from the black market. You were out of options.”_

_He looked to the baby, stunned for a moment but pressed on as he checked the baby, giving the woman space to mend the tears Adriana gained from pushing. She was given something for the pain and was given back her son as the Doctor turned to leave placing a large sum of money next to her pillow._

_“Need to know?”_

_“Yeah, pretty much.”_

_He pulled a bottle of painkillers on her nightstand table and kissed her head as he and the woman left her to her solitude and her son._

_Adriana knew she needed rest but would have to keep moving if someone knew where she was. That morning, she packed her things, enough for one trip down the stairs as she held her child close and sat in her car to watch the sun rise. She remembered running her thumb over his soft, frigid cheek, admiring him as his skin began to change color._

_“Holy fuck. I have a mood ring baby.”_

_She laughed, kissing the top of his head as she watched the sunrise and closed her eyes._

A moment of silence took her from her thoughts as she heard both the TV and the playpen both silent. She got to her feet and followed Dag’s eyes looking to the broken open door as two armored men entered her apartment. Adriana drew the silencer from its hiding place behind the toilet and shot them both between the eyes. She scooped up her baby and both bags as she shot her way back for the safety of the bedroom.

A crash from the window made her flee for the bathroom as she blocked it and hid in the bathtub. Through the shouts, Adriana did what she could to stop her son from crying. She knew there was no way to escape and she only had a few bullets left. The men’s voices died down one by one until a beeping was heard. She quickly covered her son with a blanket, protecting him from the bomb that knocked the door from its hinges.

Heavy boots filled the bathroom as she was pulled away into the smoking apartment. She looked down to her empty arms as Dag cried out ahead of her. She fought to get free, falling as the men that were hauling her away laid dead on the floor beside her.

“I’ve got her!”

She turned to the booming voice of the blond man that had fought his way to the 0-8-4 that was gripped tightly in his hand. A shot rang out from the kitchen as a bullet hit her side. Adriana fell to the floor in pain as a second wave of men fired into the apartment. The blond man had charged into the hallway, leaving her to herself as she pulled herself to her feet and pressed her hand to her bleeding wound.

“Dag!”

More bullets flew from the kitchen as more people appeared from where the blond man had appeared. She didn’t care as she fought to stay awake.

“Daggard!”

“Fire in the hole!”

The figures stormed the kitchen as something dark rolled underneath the oven. She blinked, seeing a figure in a dark suit hold her crying son. She met his piercing green, panicked eyes as Loki raced forward to her. She body fell back weak as he called out to her.

The last thing she remembered was the gas oven exploding, just as it did in her dreams…


	3. If I never see your face again

He couldn’t find any words. He hadn’t spoken in days, not since he had found her again. He looked down to the sleeping baby in his arms.

“Brother, you need proper rest.”

Loki only shook his head, reclining in his chair, holding the baby tightly and refusing to move from Adriana’s side until she woke up.

_Staying on the throne was the only way to ensure that he did return to earth and retrieve the mortal that was poisoning his mind. Every one of his actions was that for the All-father and for her, to the one cast aside and remain unnoticed from the universe. She may have not acted on her actions but he felt it necessary._

_As the Bifrost ripped apart Jotunnhiem, he found peace in ending a piece of life that was no longer his, he would finish his work and look forward on his new life as king._

_“_ _I don't know what happened on Earth to make you so soft! Don't tell me it was that woman?”_

_He still wasn’t ready to admit that the same had happened to him._

_“Oh, it was. Well maybe, when we're done here, I'll pay her a visit myself!_ _”_

_It would have all been his. He looked in disbelief to Thor as he was willing to sacrifice his woman for the safety of Asgard. Loki remembered shedding a tear as the hammer slammed down one final time, destroying his change to see Adriana again._

_It was all choices._

_A choice to let go. To accept earth as his. To serve Thanos and make the people of Earth kneel before him as he took a step as their king. From the mind of his copy, he saw an illusion, an apparition. He missed her all too much, reminding him of his promise to her. He knelt to her, ready to have her again but felt her pain as he looked down to her pushing the child from her womb._

_Loki was terrified for her as blood appeared, fearing her to die from childbirth as he eased her suffering. Adriana let go of his hand, smiling to the fortune of his child entering the world, his new world and all would be his…_

“Loki.”

He woke seeing the baby in Sif’s arms as she sat across the room in her Midgardian clothes. Around the room, was everyone else that was in the apartment, being the Warriors Three, Sif, himself, Heimdall and Thor. He refused to look to Odin or the healer that stood next to him now that the baby was not to be a distraction to him.

“Everything happened?”

Loki shook his head, fighting his words, though they would have to come out sooner or later.

“Down to the last detail as Loki and I saw,” Heimdall sighed, seeing himself as the only thing bridging a shred of sympathy towards Loki.

He knew Odin would not want more to be lost than what already was…

_Asgard was gone. It was indeed the end of the world, their world. Banner had survived and he respected the monster for that. He’d held the illusion for so long and knew that one day his reign would come to an end. Only a few select of them survived with Heimdall saving whom he could. Loki was the last, almost, choosing to die as he saw his only accepting home devour itself as Hela shrieked in defeat from the heart of the realm eternal._

_Loki stood at the entrance, cuffed as his hair wiped to his face, accepting defeat. The Asgardians were all gone as he closed his eyes and remembered Adriana. The fight in her eyes, the way she called out to his after all that time. He thought about what it would have been like if he found her again, claiming her and their child but he knew very well they would have perished as most of the eternal realm had._

_The rumble of the structure underneath him began to quake as he tried to stay on his feet. A few seconds or longer, he would have death. A warmth was felt as a hand touched his shoulder. He begged that it was her, welcoming him to the gates of Valhalla. He could hear their laugher as if it was next to him._

_“I found them…”_

_The forces of energy had turned his form to normal as he turned his crimson eyes back to Heimdall, beaming with enough powerful energy to keep him standing through all the chaos._

_“What?”_

_“If you stay, you die a coward’s death. You are many things but a coward is not one of them. Do not leave them behind.”_

_Heimdall held out his wounded arm to Loki. He smiled with his golden eyes and helped Loki to the edge of the Bifrost, jumping at the last second as Asgard was gone in a flash of light. Heimdall wrapped his arms around Loki shielding him as the rifts of Asgard followed after them. Through the touch of his hand, Loki could see Adriana’s face again. There were a few cuts on her face, healing as the smile on her eyes gradually grew._

_He knew she was indeed safe as a vision began to cloud his senses. There was screaming, her screams, the cry of his child, the color drained from her face as it plastered red to her side. His blinded visions turned to the explosion as he was snapped from his images as the Bifrost closed, leaving them in open air. Loki grabbed the only soul to save him as he turned his back to glacier ice and braced them for the hard impact that waited below them._

_Loki ignored the impact and let the haunting visions point him in the direction of her._

_“Wait,” Heimdall as he slowly got to his feet._

_“End my life if you wish, Gate Keeper, but do so when I know that they are safe.”_

_“Brother!”_

_Heimdall stopped the collecting group of remaining warriors as he undid Loki’s shackles for all to see._

_“If you are going to do anything, I suggest you do so before Odin can comprehend what has happened and that of coming events.”_

_“After all that he has done, Heimdall, we cannot let him go,” insisted Sif as she drew her dagger._

_“You may come with us. I have seen forward and wish for it not to end in more death. Have we had enough of that?”_

_They looked to each other, conflicted as Loki almost fell to his knees. Heimdall stopped him as he turned to meet his gaze._

_“They found her. We must go.”_

_Loki didn’t wait for any of the warriors to make up their minds as Loki used a spell to find Adriana, to wherever she was. Loki blinked, regaining himself as a child’s laughter was heard underneath him. He wouldn’t mistake it anywhere._

_“Look!”_

_Sif pointed to the men on the metal stairs just below the side of the building. Two groups of men each stopped to two separate windows with weapons drawn. Loki was off at the sound of gun fire and breaking glass, not knowing that his warrior brethren were behind him, splitting off behind the men. He flew into the smoke filled space, hearing a wail coming from the hall as he was quick to snap the guard’s neck who was holding his son. The warriors were quick to rush after him as he stood with the child in his arms._

_Thor had gone with Volstagg and secured the hall as Sif and Hogun fought off whom was left near the back of the small chambers._

_“Daggard!”_

_He was taken from his thoughts as he found Adriana wounded and fighting to find her child._

_“Fire in the hole!”_

_Fandral jumped the counter and fought a merc as a second was close to ending his life. Loki reached to one of the fallen for their weapon, flinging it to the man’s throat as the round object in his hand roll away, smelling of lighting powder. The sound of the click sent him forward as the warriors began to withdraw from the space._

_“Adriana!”_

_She didn’t hear his words as Heimdall scooped her up and fled from the flames behind Loki. Sif emerged with the two bags hidden away in the wash room retreating for the open window. Loki followed Heimdall, holding his child as close as he could manage, lending to his feet as the building pieces fell around the group. The explosion shook them as more of the building was set on fire. Loki uncurled himself, calming the baby with the touch of his hand. It responded to him as the baby’s skin turned blue, filling him with fear and joy. He looked up to Adriana out cold and barely breathing in Heimdall’s arms._

_“Don’t worry for them. It was planned. The rest of the building was empty. Shall we?”_

_Out of the tens of thousands of Asgardians that thrived, only a handful were left. Some were safe on Vanaheim but they would never be seen again. The land on Midgard had been procured centuries ago in case of such disaster. Loki only shook his head, returning the group to the Midgardian safe house, not expecting a warm welcome but the breathing child in his arms was all that mattered. That and the woman he loved and found again._

“Her injuries?”

“A wound to the side. Her blood is clean. All she needs is rest,” assured the Healer.

“Resources were limited as they were. She was lucky she was not in a worse position.”

Odin turned to Sif as he straightened his Midgardian clothes and held out his arms. She handed over the baby without hesitation as he began to wake. The baby looked around in wonder to Odin and the occupants of the room, finding Loki as he reached out his tiny arms to his father, knowing whom he was.

“He’s small just as you were. Had his mother been Aesir, he would be of greater heft but all the same he is perfect. However, she is alive; they are yours and when she heals, you are gone.”

Loki bits back his tears, now with nothing left to lose from the consequences of his actions. Soon enough the room was empty and he was left with his new, fragile life. The dark was soothing as he moved into the bed with Adriana and the baby. He saw the worry on the baby’s face as he looked to his mother then back to him.

“Do not worry. She will wake. She fights as a warrior should, Daggard. You will all be safe.”

There was a sling the Healer found in the bags that was rigged for the baby to rest safely as Loki decided when Adriana tossed and cried out in her sleep. Loki used a few spells here and there to heal some cuts, keeping a few as such as he remembered in the first of his visions. He feared for the fever that was raising. He moved quickly to strip off his shirt and change his form as he embraced her body.

His cooler form was enough to ease her as her temperature reduced, giving him hope and time to think about how he would explain himself when she woke. He had parted with her on unclear terms and she cared for their bastard with little help over the years from the weariness in her face. He would have to face the worst as he had once faced with Odin. Loki changed back wishing he could take any of his choices back, wrapping his arms around her as he prayed when he woke that she would still be there…

-

Screams.

There were so many screams.

_Wake up. Wake up._

_Push._

_Breathe._

Adriana moved her hands, feeling the sheets underneath her as she willed her eyes to open. A door opened so smoothly as a soft hum filled her ears.

“Wait! Try not to move.”

A pair of gentle hands held her back as the sheet was pulled from her stomach. Adriana met her turned gaze, seeing a soiled bandage under the dark tank top that she had been redressed in, removed from her side. She remembered being shot as she looked around for Dag.

“Who are you?”

“Try to remain claim. You were injured.”

Her mothers’ adrenaline had kicked in the moment the woman had turned her back, running for the open door as the woman had rushed rather quickly to the door to stop her. Adriana wasted no time, lifting the woman from her feet and tossing her on the bed behind her. She picked a sure direction and ran as voices called out behind her. She cared enough to look to the decorated wall around her, taking in that she wasn’t in her apartment anymore.

“Dag?”

“There she is.”

Adriana felt pain in her side as she raced in another direction to stay ahead of whomever was chasing her.

“Daggard!”

She skidded to a stop as she was cornered in a foyer, seeing impossibly perfectly formed people surrounding her. Adriana backed herself into the nearest wall and closed her eyes to the approaching people.

“Daggard!”

“Enough!”

She turned her head to the voice in the group that made her jaw drop. Loki moved through the crowd with the recognizable blond man at his side as they moved the people back.

“Adriana?”

She stepped forward, not knowing if he was real or not. Her eyes moved down to the dark suit that she had seen him in so many years ago. He took the moment before Odin would arrive and reached out to her, cupping her cheek as she stood still.

“Please say so…”

The look on Adriana’s face changed in an instant as a snarl filled her face. She lunged forward, knocking Loki from his feet as she jumped on him. They hit the floor together, pinning his arms for a moment as she brought her closed fist down to his face, surprising him as he felt her fury.

“You son of a bitch,” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Loki flung her off, letting her slide across the floor of the foyer. He was on his feet only to be brought down again as Adriana lifted herself and locked her feet tightly around Loki’s neck, using her weight to slam him hard into the tiled floor.

“Adr...”

“Where is my son?!”

“Enough,” mused Heimdall as he lifted Adriana away with a single arm.

“Agreed.”

The group turned to Odin as he held a gurgling Daggard in his arms. Adriana stopped fighting, calming herself as the baby found her eyes.

“Ma… mama.”

Heimdall released her as she walked forward with Loki behind her.

“Oh, God. He said his first word…”

Odin handed her the baby, smiling to her as she embraced the child. Loki placed a single hand on her shoulder, making Adriana turn and thrust her hand up into Loki’s face breaking his nose as he cried out in pain. She brought her hand back up in a warning.

“You touch me again and I will fucking end you, I swear.”

“My dear, you should not swear on such things.”

She turned with a protective hold on her child.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that he fucked you and left you alone with no reason as you were left to raise his child that hasn’t aged in five years. I’ve had bad people after me and haven’t had a good night’s sleep in that amount of time. Pardon my manners, sir.”

“You are overreacting,” sighed Loki as he healed his nose.

“To hell with you, asshole.”

She took a single step away and turned back to Odin with a sick look to her face. Loki remembered this look.

“Am I still on Earth?”

“Yes, my child.”

“Cool.”

She turned again, only making it a few feet as Loki caught her from falling to the floor. He felt the open wound on her side as she did her best to protect Dag. Loki lifted her in his arms, ignoring the craned necks behind him.

“You can end my life when you are healed but I fear that there is a list of those ahead of you.”

“Fuck you,” she laughed to herself as Loki carried her and the baby back to her room.

-

“The wound will keep opening if you keep fighting,” smiled the Healer as she wiped her hands.

“It’s mostly instinct. Sorry I flipped out on you.”

“Not to worry. I have fought worse. It was only a natural reaction.”

“It was foolish,” added Loki as he held Dag.

“I need you to witness when I say that if he touches me again, I will slit his throat.”

“That is a shame. I know not how to cure a fatal wound, leaving me to accept a pending death.”

“All I need is a plan to get my son back from him.”

“Why not ask nicely?”

“Because not only am I not going to willingly acknowledge you but the last thing I need to do is attack you with him in your arms.”

“You mean _our_ son?”

“Don’t you fucking start…”

“None of you shall start, at least not with innocents involved.”

Heimdall was quick into the room for the Healer and Dag. He stopped at the door, bringing both Adriana and Loki get to their feet.

“Perhaps you should not get involved, Gatekeeper.”

“That title will suit me as I try to salvage the gate between the both of you. You were both saved for the sake of each other. Resolve yourselves for the future that I have seen.”

“You can’t leave me in here with him.”

“Resolve yourselves and I will return your child. You have my solemn word.”

Heimdall shut them away from the rest of the world as Adriana was the first to back away.

“Please…”

“Don’t,” she shouted as she shoved away his hand.

She grunted in pain as she held her side and bit back her pain. Loki combed his fingers through his hair and removed his dress jacket, feeling the fabric constrict him.

“May I heal you? If you were to die from the loss of blood, you would win in terms of leaving me to care for Daggard.”

“You aren’t…”

Adriana felt her head spin, not only from the blood loss but also the fact that Loki was changed again. She was still deciding whether it was for good or bad. She turned, sitting on the edge of her bed as Loki rolled his sleeves. He peeled the bandage away, using it to catch the falling blood from the small wound. He formed his hand to her side, chanting as he healed her side. His eyes saw her hand as it gripped the bedspread underneath her. He could only imagine what was going through her head, the things she wanted to say and the Hell she wished to unleash. After what he had put her through, she more than deserved to let it out upon him.

Loki finished and pulled his hand away, seeing the wound clean as he wiped the rest of her blood away. Adriana’s side felt strange feeling no more pain as Loki’s hand stayed on her side. She wanted to fight him again, cradling the abandonment issues she always faced as Loki slowly moved forward on the bed to her. She didn’t want him to stop.

Loki touched her hair, shortened to the bottom of her neck as some of it was scorched off from the explosion. His palm rested on the side of her neck as she leaned her neck into his touch. He was cautious in his movement, craving more of her as he chose to kiss her neck a single time. The feel of his lips kissing her made memories come flooding to her.

The hotel…

The lavish couch…

The hours of calling out to him as the blood rushed to her head…

The months of running with his child…

Alone…

Adriana hadn’t batted an eye lash as she brought her elbow up and knocked Loki back. Her fury showed again as she pinned Loki against a dresser and struck him harder in the face. Loki kept his arms down, giving Adriana the satisfaction of letting out the grief he had caused for her. Each blow, she became more feral, sobbing as she finally stopped to catch her breath. She looked to her bloodied knuckles wondering what blood was hers and what was Loki’s as she saw the healing dark bruises and swelling she had left on his face.

He coughed, spitting out some blood as he leaned up to her.

“Fucker,” she yelled as she punched him, breaking his cheek bone faster than it healed.

“Such strength. Truly a woman after my own heart…”

Adriana curled her fingers around the edges of his collar and jerked him up, shaking him back and forth to match her anger.

“STOP IT! I HATE YOU! I…”

She dropped her arms and fell to the floor as Loki followed her, taking her into his arms. She sobbed into his chest, holding him as he did her. Loki ignored his wounds that were taking their time to heal as he made sure Adriana knew that he was not going to let her go as he did before. Through her calming breaths and returning tears, he could hear her voice again.

“I hate you…”

Loki tilted her face, seeing the redness and loneliness he would be encourage to rid her of.

“Mean it,” he whispered.

“I…”

He only lifted her face enough as she took his into her hands and kissed him. He had missed her so as he wrapped his arm around her and laid her gently on the bed. He needed her so much, it hurt. He stopped, panting as he pressed his forehead to hers. Loki wanted to lay her bare and claim her as he always wanted to but couldn’t.

He stopped, seeing her tears, choosing to hold her close instead. There was so much of her that he wanted but he needed the feel of her and the cease of her cries. Loki looked to the silver lining, accepting Adriana was alive and she was in his arms.

She was there…


	4. Help

It was a new day and she was learning so much.

They were aliens but it felt like such a dirty word to her. They were beings without a home, starting again as she had done time and time again. A few hundred of them on a controlled compound acting now as a haven for them as they had no choice but to face the new world before them. Adriana, however, didn’t see it as a life worth living.

She smiled to the son, laying flat in her lap as the remaining ladies waited for a chance to play with Dag. If it helped ease them or gave them something to distract them from the hell they’d been through, she would help in any way she could. Normally, she was the only person he would see but with Heimdall agreeing to give him back, she barely had a minute alone. Dag was smarter than she had thought, playing with the Robin Hood looking man as he tried to hide berries in his hands for him to find correctly each time. Not only could he eat more solid foods that she had anticipated but she was proud to heard her child form words, repeating half words others told him.

Adriana held herself together as Loki appeared, getting Dag’s attention as he held out his tiny arms for him as Adriana passed him along. She moved away from the dazzling eyes, using everyone’s amazement for Dag to keep her away from Loki. She woke earlier in the morning, not wanting to be there when Loki woke. She didn’t want him to wake. Not in a threatening way but the way that the dawn had found him sleeping on his back, she had found him so beautiful.

Adriana felt almost shamed to make a run from how she felt about Loki. She sat on the other side of the bustling garden with her legs crossed, only watching from a distance. Her hands fiddled with the sides of the dress provided for her, she felt like a burden, useless after moving for so long.

“His name?”

She turned her face, seeing the old man that was holding Dag the day before.

“What’s yours?”

“Odin.”

“Hello. So. Who are you to them?”

“A king. Was. I see no reason anymore. There were a few dozen that have been here longer than us. We are now to the winds, learning to adapt no matter the conditions. They will be of a better leadership than I will be from now on.”

“My condolences.”

“Stars across Yggdrasil die each day and is a way of life. We will find our way.”

“And I’ll find my way soon. You’re not so warming, no offense.”

“It is not your doing.”

“But the doing related to my bastard.”

“My dear, things have happened, some unforgivable, others mendable with time.”

She was not used to talking to people about her problems and knew that she wasn’t going to be left alone any time soon.

“Daggard Edward Jarrison. Daggard was my father. Edward was my grandfather. Both were good men, great men. Exceptional and played for saps by the women they were married to and given jobs that killed them. I’m no different than them.”

“You risked life to save the one of your son. He is in perfect health and in turn will be thankful that he had you.”

“If Loki hadn’t... If he wasn’t there, I’d be dead and I don’t want to think about what would happen to my kid growing up without another absent parent. I don’t know how he’s so warming to Loki after just meeting him, like he can tell that he’s his dad.”

“You think Loki would be a better choice?”

“He healed me, treated me like he felt something for me. Then he literally reopened my cuts and left me upside down for 10 hours as I screamed for him. If I’ve left any reason out that would make him an option to come back into my life, then please enlighten me.”

“Attempted genocide, mutiny, murder and treason to the crowd of Asgard.”

Adriana shook her head, falling into a bit of laughter, not believing herself.

“Is that it,” she laughed honestly, “Why am I not pissed the fuck off at him?!”

Odin laughed alongside her, patting her knee in reassurance.

“You are as I will be one day. You see the potential of him aspiring to be greater than the thing he no longer wishes to be. He is showing a great rate of change the more Loki is with young Daggard. With proper guide and acceptance from you, they will both grow to how they should as the proud warriors that raised you.”

“Time will tell.”

“He is not ready for the world as I imagine you are not either. This land is ours for a few miles in each direction and is protected from any intruders. You do not have to leave entirely and may stay if you wish. Daggard with have a mother, a father, family and a village in his life.”

“Where are we?”

“Carolina. _South_ , I believe they said.”

“South Carolina,” she sighed.

“East a mile to the shore is a cottage. It is unused if you want it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“All in all, things to be considered.”

Adriana smiled, holding his aged hand as he smiled with his single eye.

“Thank you, Odin.”

“You are welcome, my child.”

“Adriana?”

She turned to Loki, unsure of a fussy Daggard as he kicked and started to cry.

“Don’t worry. He just needs a nap before he gets snatched up again. It was too much excitement for him.”

Adriana didn’t wait for Loki to touch her or follow her as she plucked him from his arms and headed back for their room. Loki stayed still.

“You should go. You have nothing here.”

Loki bit his tongue, taking the remark that was deserved to him. He found Adriana in her room, moving furniture around as Daggard wailed in his sling.

“I know your guys’ world ended but do you know if anyone grabbed a crib on their way out?”

“I can ask.”

“Fuck. There’s no time. Move the bed.”

Loki followed her instruction, moving it with a single kick of his foot as Adriana rushed for their bags. She was used to living from the two bags as her hands found the tablet and the small projector that cost a pretty penny but it was worth it in this moment. She moved quickly, plugging the tablet to the projector and into the wall to keep it powered up.

“I don’t understand.”

“ _Snow White_. He falls asleep after a few minutes and he… I don’t know what he likes about it but he just does.”

Adriana sighed as she finally set up the movie and Daggard properly so he could see the images on the wall. She turned off the light in the room and drew the curtains to darken the space as Loki looked to the images on the wall.

“Do you… Sh-should I leave?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she huffed as her fingers pressed the tablet.

She moved away from the wall, smiling to Dag’s changed mumbles. Adriana moved around Loki, grabbing a blanket from the bed and laid it out on the ground near Dag. She laid on her side, making herself comfortable.

“Come on. Are you just going to stand there?”

Loki looked at her bare back as he moved to the floor and tried to decide how close he wanted to be with her.

“I swear you’re like a fucking brick wall. Stop acting so scared.”

Adriana rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, guiding it around her waist.

“I’m not scared. I’m trying to be considerate of your personal space.”

“Yeah, because you obviously know something about personal boundaries the night we met.”

Adriana didn’t have the strength to pull him closer and chose to push herself back flush to his chest. Loki held a steady breath and moved his hips back so she wouldn’t _feel_ him as close. He stayed focused on the images dancing across the wall, lighting up around them as he waited to open his mouth. Sooner or later they would have to talk, he wasn’t sure of when it would happen.

He waited for as long as he heart could handle, holding Adriana tighter to his chest.

“Adri…”

“No.”

Her voice was calm and soothing.

“Please?”

“No. You don’t get to say anything. At least not yet. We are not anywhere near cool and the last thing I need from you is to get down on your knees and try to have me take you back. I know what you want and I almost know what I want but we need to… take into consideration what our son needs. I’m not going to abandon you like you did to me, Loki. I’m not going to keep you from him or from me. I’m mad now but it will pass. It’ll just take some time.”

He could only smile and sigh into her hair.

“Thank you.”

She fought. She wanted to say something smartass because he deserved it but she couldn’t find it in her heart to be cruel. She turned in his arms, making sure he saw the hurt in her eyes.

“I don’t want to stay mad but I think I’ll always see you as an ass.”

He ran his thumb over the cut on her cheek, glad that his vision came true.

“You may take my words as you wish. I will help care for Daggard if you’ll teach me and you may do with me as you wish.”

“Promise?”

“I promise on my own life.”

The smile traveled from her eyes to her cheek as she turned fully to her side. She reached up, brushing the dark strands of his hair away from his face as Loki accepted her touch. He was such any sudden movements would make her recoil but he knew what she wanted. He pulled her close and kissed her once, not pushing the line but enough so she was filled th warmth. Adriana held herself back, failing horribly as she pulled his face to hers and kissed him again. Loki relished in her passion as he turned them to her back, taking his time to not overwhelm her but his hands just wouldn’t understand.

He pawed at her, remembering the curves of her thighs so easily as he pulled them apart and settled easily between her legs, grinding himself into her so she could feel him. His hand moved past the hem of her dress and into the waistband of her shorts. His mouth dropped feeling her wetter than he remembered. Adriana pulled her lips away from Loki as she tried stopping him.

“I-I can’t do this in front of him. Even if he’s sleeping…”

“Then say the word,” he growled.

“What?”

Loki wrapped his arm tightly around Adriana as he pulled her up from the floor and jumped over the bed. He moved quickly, throwing Adriana for a loop as he pressed her into the floor, hiding them from the baby and the movie as it continued without them. She didn’t fight him, letting Loki wander her skin as he moved down her body.

He pulled the shorts off, slowly lifting himself back to her neck. Adriana could remember the hunger, being pushed against the wall the night they met but felt something strange. There was tenderness, there was more. It was honest and terrifying, nearly escalating to what they had before.

She stopped Loki, pulling him up and keeping him in place with a kiss. Loki calmed, feeling like putty in her hands as she turned him into his back and let her take him but it couldn’t stop his hand from pulling at her clothes. She smiled on the inside, at ease as she dug her nails deeper and not letting go of Loki.

-

Adriana didn’t want to say anything after only a few hours after waking. She’d left Dag with Loki, per her son’s more understandable request as she used the time to help making breakfast for the compound with others that had been simple folk around the kingdom. She was stopped by Heimdall as he loaded a vehicle for her ride to the cottage.

“How fare you today?”

“Should I be asking you? Your, literally, your whole world is… gone. How do you come back from that?”

“Keep yourself moving forward. Nothing really more to fear but what could be ahead.”

“I almost believe you,” she laughed as she placed both of her bags into the small car.

“The land should be enough for you. Good for planting and the water is rich for this time of year.”

“It’s the middle of summer, so I would hope so.”

She was lucky that there was a car to barrow since no one else knew how to use them yet. It was going to be as hard on her just as everyone else. She had those she could relate to, starting again and trying out how to make herself useful. Loki appeared with Thor, talking as Dag pressed his face into Thor’s beard, amusing himself as it seemed Loki was stalling from getting in the car. Thor saw and pushed the baby into his arms and pointed him in Adriana’s direction. She rolled her eyes, hidden by her sunglasses as she unlocked the rest of the doors.

“There’s no car seat so you’ll have to hold him.”

“Shouldn’t I operate this?”

“No. Get in.”

Adriana waved to whomever was there to see them off, her catching a glimpse of Odin as he grinned to her. She would be glad to handle Loki until he was ready to face him. Time would tell. The whole ride she was worried about what would happen the minute they made the shore. Out the corner of her eye, she could see Loki pointing things out to Dag as he looked with wonder. Dag never got a chance to see much and it was nice for them to bond.

Adriana drove past other small houses and cottages for those that were ready to settle. A small grin appeared from her mouth as she smelled the sea ahead of her. She was more than surprised, seeing that the cottage Odin told her about was more of a lavish cabin if anything.

“Wow…”

She left the car behind her and looked around the land, feel safe and at ease as Loki stood next to her.

“There’s a chance that Heimdall will take the lighthouse. It’s sound and it’ll be an easier transformation.”

“Right now, we’re gonna need to work on ours. Come on.”

Loki followed behind Adriana with the nervousness filling his every vein the closer they got to their new home. She pushed open the door to the cabin, looking around as she smiled to the space around her. Around the cabin were a few bits of furniture but there was more that could be put in if she wanted, if they wanted. She felt the wind pour through every open window and filling the cabin with fresh ocean air.

“Adriana!”

She opened her eyes and raced up the stairs to Loki’s voice as he stood next to a fresh crib with Dag pushing himself into the soft looking mattress. Adriana didn’t fight the giggle that came from her throat as she watched him.

“That’s his… uh… first crib. He’s always in that sling. It’s not an easy thing to have when you’re on the run.”

“He has exceptional posture, especially for an infant.”

“I was worried about SIDS. Not that I’m complaining but how much long is he going to be like this?”

“Only a few more, then with time, he’ll begin to grow.”

“Good.”

Adriana kept her mouth shut, staying in the nursery with Loki and Dag until the baby fell asleep comfortably in the crib. They both reclined on the floor next to crib with Adriana spreading her feet on Loki’s lap as he traced circles into her ankle.

“What now?”

“I don’t know.”

She shook her head, actually knowing but not ready to tell him.

“Rules.”

“Rules?”

“No massive genocide around my son.”

“But he’s…”

“Period. He’s not going to remember much and they’re gonna talk when he gets older. You said you wanted to stay and things are different as fuck right now. This is the first and only time I’m gonna ask, are you going to stick around or not?”

Loki held a straight face, crossing his arms in disbelief.

“You are foolish to think that I will let you go a second time. I had a set mind but changed it without thinking. Through the years, I have not made the most of my choices…”

“Piss poor choices.”

“…my choices, none the less and I will be staying and providing a life for you and my son. Understand?”

“Fine.”

“Fine. Rule of my own. No spontaneous fits. Daggard should not be exposed to such an environment though one day I would like to see him to know how to defend himself.”

“Fine. Rule. No fucking in the nursery.”

“Fine,” said Loki as he got to his feet.

“Where are you going?”

Loki smiled to Adriana as she was left on the floor confused. She stripped off the diaper bag and hurried after Loki. She turned the corner down the hall and was pulled from her feet into the nearest bedroom as Loki shoved her against the wall and kissed her. He stopped and backed off a little, smiling as he worked his arms around Adriana’s waist.

“I was going to make you scream my name until you saw the Heavens but that would be unfair to our child.”

“Is indecisiveness a common trail of yours,” she whispered, wrapping her arm around his neck.

“In a sense but know I have made up my mind and I don’t want to be without you.”

“Good, ‘cause I don’t think I can either.”

Adriana could feel the wind again as she pulled Loki to her. She wanted him so bad as he lifted her from her feet and placed her on the modest bed that was to be theirs. They had time. Loki pulled her into his arms and held her close as he heard Dag sleeping peacefully in the room next to theirs.

Adriana didn’t want to close her eyes but was overwhelmed with the sense of happiness and feeling safe as closed her eyes and ignored the faint gasping and image of herself crumbling into ash. There was no way for her dreams to come true again.


	5. Better

“You need a break. You need rest.”

“Please. I’ve had worse.”

Adriana was sweating being so close to the city. It was necessary with Heimdall keeping his powers and seeing those that were monitoring the compound. Thor hadn’t said a word but with a few thousand people needing faked paperwork was bonding to send a red flag. Odin was the first to step forward to deal with the matter but Adriana knew who it was.

She bit the bullet, leaving Loki and everyone behind with the exception of Heimdall that swore to keep her safe. For all the years she was on the run, she rather enjoyed a winter in the south. It wasn’t as cold and it would be the first holiday with Loki and Dag. They were together and it nearly broke her heart as she looked down to the ring on her finger.

“Second thoughts?”

“No.”

“You are looking at that ring an awful lot.”

“Rings aren’t supposed to feel this heavy.”

“Is it the heft of the metal or is that your nerves?”

Adriana stopped on the busy sidewalk as she hunched over and took a deep breath. Heimdall was quick to appear at her side.

“Perhaps we chose too early to do this.”

“No,” she sighed, pushing herself up as the coat fell around her pregnant stomach.

It was strange to be knocked up again and she felt like she could have watched something like this closely. She didn’t mind having another of Loki’s kids and accepting his marriage proposal but it was all happening so fast. That wasn’t what scared her. She took Heimdall’s arm and bit her tongue as much as she could. It was still strange to have someone to talk to about these things.

“I keep having a feeling something bad is going to happen.”

“Present?”

“Ongoing. Let’s just get this over with.”

“She is waiting, perhaps a little bit longer will teach her.”

“I sat next to her for years. Not really a chance she’ll worry.”

Adriana remained calm as she spotted the straight black hair of an old co-worker before she was moved to Sitwell’s detail. Her eyes scanned around out of instinct as Heimdall gently led her forward to the display of Christmas trees and the tables of families enjoy themselves.

She caught a glance of the long black straight hair peering from underneath the bland snow cap as she rounded the small patio table.

“May. Nice to see you still frigid.”

Melinda May looked up and then down without an emotion to Adriana’s stomach as she settled back in her chair.

“I thought we agreed to no witnesses.”

“How about the ten armored men within ear distance,” asked Heimdall as he made sure Adriana was seated before he was.

“You’re a marksman?”

“Enough to know that there is a man three blocks away with a scope pointed towards us?”

Adriana saw the bit of worry in Melinda’s eyes as Heimdall’s eyes glowed.

“Let’s just get this over with. I have places I need to be.”

“Fine. We’ve noticed your influx of people coming in and out of the property down south.”

“And that’s bothering you because?”

“Shield is just wondering if they can help in any way.”

“My lady,” started Heimdall, “We are doing well on our own.”

“Hydra forces were on her tail for years just to eliminate her…”

“I found channels two years at best before you asses and ran. Sitwell can come and get me if he wants.”

“Sitwell died the same time the carriers fell on the Hub.”

“You obviously have proof? It wouldn’t exactly be so savory if he shows up on my doorstep.”

A sudden smile crossed her face as she threw her head back in laughter.

“Well, fuck. There’s my Christmas present!”

“There is still the matter of the attempting trespassing on our land.”

“We’re not stupid. We know what you are hiding and the more you clench your fists gives me assurance that Loki is still alive.”

“So?”

“He’s a wanted criminal.”

“So is half of Shield if they were so close to killing me.”

“You were sloppy and if I have to go higher up for the authorization, I will help storm your compound and bring him in.”

“Option B.”

“There is none.”

“Don’t give me that shit. There’s always a back-up plan with you.”

“Work with us again. Your family has more understandings of Roswell and you were just as much a part of that team in New Mexico. All we ask is work for asylum.”

“First off, you don’t know shit about my family with any remaining redacted file that are left in your burning pile of books. Secondly, you can’t guarantee my safety. I’ve been more safe with these guys than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

“It’s a huge influx of enhanced people on our planet at best.”

“Your best is bullshit. You stay away from my family.”

“Look around to where you are Adriana. Five years ago, Loki was almost successful at taking over the city and you seem a bit blind to the fact that he may just be using you.”

“Miss May, this may not be the best words to use.”

“He’s a man of tricks and will fool anyone, even you.”

She kept her eyes on May, giving Heimdall some worry as he kept an eyes to each of the ten men slowly reaching for their weapons. Adriana stood quick enough for her plastic chair to shake on its legs as she hunched over the table, inches away from May’s face.

“You don’t know shit.”

“He’s only using you.”

Adriana chuckled, pulling up her shirt over her belly and grabbed onto May’s head, knowing she wouldn’t fight back.

“Go. To. Hell. May.”

Heimdall smiled with his eyes as Adriana repeatedly bounced the agent’s head from her stomach enough to not hurt the baby as people began to watch. Adriana let go and fixed her shirt. The snow cap fell from Melinda’s head as she tried to fix her chair and unruly hair where Adriana had grabbed her.

“If I find you trying to threaten me or my family again, I will use whatever strength is left from my term of pregnancy to shove my foot up your ass. Have a merry Christmas, Melinda. Give my love to Andrew. Come on, Heimdall. I want to go home.”

Heimdall got to his feet and helped Adriana without looking back to the woman.

“That went as good as I hoped.”

“Everything is still happening so fast.”

“Perhaps now should be time to give you my present.”

“What?”

He chuckled pulling her along as they stopped in front of a bustling bakery. Adriana followed his gaze to a man sitting by himself near the windows inside.

“The one with the scope. I’ll get you something to nourish.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“No but the baby is,” he called over his shoulder.

“I hate it when you do that,” she huffed.

Adriana filed in with the crowd and pulled out the chair next to the man. He didn’t meet her gaze as he kept his hand cupped around his coffee.

“You still look the same, Barton.”

“Glad that you found someone, Jarrison. Just know that if he ever messes with you the way he did with me, I will not hesitate to kill him.”

“I know but if I get there first, just know that there’ll be no hard feelings.”

“Of course.”

Adriana kept her eyes to the back of Heimdall’s head as she saw the butt of his dagger.

“I found your file. I didn’t think you’d stay in the game.”

“Retirement sucked.”

“I’m sure it did.”

“I wasn’t there for May’s protection.”

“I already have a guardian angel.”

“You can never have too many angels on your side.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“My youngest just learned how to walk. It’s… It’s just weird to see life passing by. Yours starting school?”

“He’s developing slow because of his father. It’s hard having a child stay the same for five years but he’s so smart.”

“What about this one?”

“Has a home. Something Dag didn’t have.”

“Dag? As in Daggard?”

“Yeah. A name that meant something.”

“Have a name for this one?”

“No. We want it to be a surprise.”

“Good on you, kid. You’ve really grown.”

She wanted to agree but didn’t feel as much.

“It was hard as it was. I was taking care of me and Dag but now I’m about to be married and have a kid on the way, not to mention getting what’s left of an endangered species back on its feet. Shield’s not making this easy on us.”

Barton smiled, reaching into his pocket, setting a pad and paper on the table in front of him.

“They found you because of your paper dealer. I have better guy has some debts he needs to get out of and some of your people can get across the country to get themselves together. You don’t have to say yes but it’s their if you want it. My number’s down there as well.”

“No Shield.”

“Only me. I promise.”

“Thanks.”

“So marrying? Trying to make an honest God out of him?”

“Maybe. Either tomorrow sometime next week before it starts snowing.”

“Soon… Bully for you, Adriana.”

“My lady.”

Barton looked over his shoulder to Heimdall as he towered Clint.

“I remember you. The soldier of fortune.”

“Have we met?”

“He’s one of them. He can see every being in existence.”

“He could be a private eye.”

“My eyes belong to my people and will stay trained to yours.”

“He’s not with them but I know he was listening so I’m extending my threat to him as well.”

“I got a good laugh out of that. I didn’t think you would bounce May’s head off of your belly like that, it definitely took guts. I know not to mess with a pregnant woman. Try not to be a stranger.”

“Thanks, Barton.”

Clint helped Adriana to her feet and hugged her as she smiled.

“If I find out you bugged me, I will kick you in the groin.”

“I’m could have done it when you came out of the alley earlier.”

Letting go was easier than she though as she took Heimdall’s arm again and wandered the streets of Manhattan, slowly making their way back to the hidden portal to take them home. Her smile gradually began to disappear as Heimdall took notice.

“Try to think of this as practice.”

“I can’t keep threatening people forever.”

“I meant to take you down the aisle.”

“Wait, he said yes?!”

Heimdall let out a chuckle as he felt the joy through her grip.

“He is still a higher being of the place of Yggdrasil. He finds this to be a step to let Loki back into his life and he would like the challenge to make you happier than you already are. Him joining you in matrimony will give him the closure he needs with the end of Asgard. He isn’t ready to say that he wants to put past actions behind him but know that he is ready.”

“I can accept that.”

They walked in peace as they rounded the last corner to the empty alley, stepping through as Barton watched the rift close and ensuring that they made it through safely to the other side.

-

“Do you see it yet?”

Dag pointed to the darker clouds and laughed as he sat in his lap. Loki reclined to the wooden chair he’d crafted with his own hands and made sure that the baby was wrapped snuggly to prevent him from getting ill. He was worried letting Adriana go to confront the forces trying to come onto their land. He knew what they were there for and it terrified him to his core. He understood what he did was wrong but he didn’t want to be separated from his family.

“Almost but not enough for snow. My birth home always snowed from what I remember. It was all different then.”

Loki looked down to his hand as the slight breeze turned his skin dark. He thought years back to the weapons vault of the palace as his own voice haunted him.

“ _What, because I... I... I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?”_

He looked down to his son as Dag smiled and pressed his small face to his father’s hand.

“No more,” he laughed as he tried to pull his hand away.

Dag lifted his face, showing off the blue hand print as parts of his skin faded darker. Loki smiled and let his natural form show. Dag did the same as he mimicked Loki until he was as beautiful.

“Well, look at you,” praised Loki as he looked into Dag’s crimson eyes.

“Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa…”

“That’s right, my son. Be proud.”

Loki lifted Dag into the air as he kicked his little legs out from underneath him. The sound of a click got his turned to see Adriana getting several pictures of them together as Heimdall made his way back his lighthouse.

“That’s getting framed.”

“Look who’s back,” teased Loki as he turned Dag for her to see.

“Oh my goodness,” she smiled as she took a giggling Dag into her arms, “You’re just like Daddy! You’re so cold.”

Loki felt his heart hurt as he got to his feet and wrapped his arms around his family. If he was going to convince her to change her mind about how soon to marry, it would ease his growing nightmares.

“You smell wonderful.”

“That’s just the scone. Come on. I’m hungry.”

Loki held Adriana’s hand, feeling at peace as they made their way back to the cabin. A gust of wind made him smile as she kissed the back of his dark blue hand, turning it pale again.

“What do you feel like tonight?”

“I don’t know. What do we have?”

“Chicken or fish.”

“Chicken sounds good.”

“It does,” he smiled as he closed the door behind him and conquered a fire in the fireplace near the stairs.

Loki pulled the pans from the hooks in the kitchen and looked through the shelves to his loves and pushed down the lump in his throat. The months had gone so fast. Adriana had pulled off her coat and was now resting with Daggard near her stomach as he pressed himself to her side to feel the baby.

 _In the blink of an eye_ , _this could all be gone_ , he thought to himself.

_The breath caught in his throat._

_There were no words._

_Loki smiled, looking straight forward to the aura of light. If he could have found a word to describe her, it would not have been enough. There was nothing in the world to compare her to and he didn’t care if the world was crashing around him. She took a single step forward and flushed away all of the darkness._

_Adriana took a step forward, making her dress turn to pale, pure waves that cascaded over her belly. He feared for her a bit. The kiss would seal their union and make her Aesir as well as the baby. There was no telling what would happen. Odin had done the same to Dag, giving his blessing to their child so that they could all be together and know with each step closer, she would finally be his._

_He looked into her eyes and held back what emotions he could. They traveled up to the dark wave of hair braided to perfection, growing back after the explosion burning it. She was truly a vision, making the world around them disappear as he focused solely on her. He could tell that she was short of breath, walking without Heimdall, most likely her decision as she clutched her flowers. She coughed into her hand, resuming as she stepped closer. She took her time and stopped next to him, where he knew she’d stay._

_Tears fell from the sides of his eyes as he knew he didn’t deserve something was perfect and wonderful as her. She reached up and cupped his face with the hand she coughed into as her skin began to turn to ash. The ash from her finger smudged his tear, dirtying his face as the charring traveled down her arm._

_Adriana fell to her knees as Loki fell with her, catching her before she began to crumble. She didn’t cry out in pain or try to cry as she cupped Loki’s face again and kissed him as she took her last breath. Loki held her close and felt her crumble to ash in his grip as her falling ashes spilled from the sides of her dress and fell to the floor underneath him._

Loki woke from his dream sweating as he caught his breath.

“Oh Gods, help me…”

The nightmares were getting worse and worse, filling him with fear. He ran his fingers through his sweating hair, doing anything possible to shake the feeling away. He jumped hearing Adriana cry out on the other side of the bed. The blanket collected on the side of her belly as she turned herself to the edge. Loki was at her side, waking her as she came to.

“What’s wrong?”

“It-It’s nothing,” she tried to wave off.

Loki sighed, easing her back to the bed, knowing very well she was lying.

“It’s just the baby. Dag could feel it too whenever… Never mind.”

“Alright then.”

Loki helped Adriana back into their bed as he pulled the covers up over her shirt and her stomach.

“Just tell me what you need.”

She opened her eyes and smiled to Loki as he stroked her stomach.

“Just you,” she sighed.

Loki hid his worried face into her shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her, fitting perfectly.

“Tomorrow,” she whispered.

“What?”

He turned his face up to her, watching the smile grow.

“I told Odin tomorrow. I know you’ve wanted to do this sooner.”

“Are… Are you sure?”

“Yes. I am. Stop worrying so much. I’d almost mistake you being pregnant with as much as you nest on this.”

Loki laughed, pulling Adriana for a kiss as a part of him was finally settling. He pressed his lips to hers, feeling a fair bit of doubt calm as he pulled her closer, praying that the images of her crumbling to ash would disappear but the cramping feeling remained to his sides.

He could feel something coming.

 


	6. Just an ordinary day

 

“Traditions! There’s always been traditions among your culture.”

“You need something blue but you’re marrying Loki. Does that count?”

“Don’t touch her hair anymore!”

“Girls,” shouted Sif as she rushed the room, “Please show some decency! We are of a higher stature than this. Now, give her some room.”

Adriana sighed in relief staring to Sif’s back in the vanity mirror. Sif turned dressed and ready as she set her cup down into Adriana’s hands for her to drink. She was told she was going to be one of them but she was fine with that. She would drink the ready potion and Odin would bless her, completing her transformation as an Aesir being.

“My Gods, what have they done to you?!”

“I tried. I really tried to fend them off.”

“Wash your face. They made you into a homing wench on a warrior’s return.”

Adriana paced to the bathroom after Sif to wash all the extra makeup from her face and doing everything in her power to not panic. Loki was on the other side of the compound getting ready. Dag must have been with him and Thor or with Heimdall as usual. She looked to the mirror to her reddened, clean face as Sif returned with a few bits of makeup they had decided on.

“I have mastered a simple makeup but a little magical stroke as true as my sword will claim victory for you. Eyes up.”

Adriana calmed herself knowing and really not knowing if this was happening. Before her mother left her, she would always guarantee that Adriana would never find a husband or be happy but she was willing to find her and prove her wrong. She waved off the idea. She had Dag and the baby that would be with them in a week short weeks. She had a new family and friends. Sif was nearly a sister to her and Heimdall as a voice of reason. Odin could have easily been the mother figure she wanted, no one would ever replace her father. Thor and the warriors would help give Dag whatever she couldn’t alongside Loki.

Loki.

He was slowly regaining a single word here and there, finding some place in the people that were beginning to accept him again. He was making a large effort, beginning with marrying, much to the surprise of their second child on the way.

“Your hair will be safe to salvage.”

Adriana let Sif untangle the unwanted bun on the top of her head and braided it into a more comfortable as it laid over her shoulder.

“Much better,” smiled Sif as she helped Adriana to her feet.

A knock came from the door as Hogun burst in.

“Rude!”

“My apologies, Sif. We are moving the formality.”

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“There are more people attending than anticipated.”

“How many,” asked Adriana.

“Everyone. We did not think… I am not sure.”

“Well, o-okay. What’s the plan then?”

“The front steps. We are doing what we can to hurry before it snows.”

“No. Don’t jinx it. It’s not supposed to snow until tomorrow. It’ll be outside and it’ll be fine. We should probably hurry before it gets dark.”

“Actually, everything is ready when you are.”

“You guys work quick. Then, let’s go.”

She took Sif’s arm and hurried as quickly as she could to get outside. It was already getting cold quick but it would be alright.

“Wait, here.”

Sif pulled two shoulder pads from the folds of her dress.

“Open the dress.”

“What?”

“Trust me.”

Sif didn’t wait for her as she pushed the shoulder pads down the front of Adriana’s wedding dress and fixed her chest accordingly. She wanted to yell or at least protest but everything happened in a blur and she felt some comfort as she was pulled along towards the front of the house with the flowers in her hands.

-

“Then the Frost prince decided to not return for the warrior. He was destressed of how she made him feel for emotions were not a thing that for what he believed in.”

Thor worked as quickly as he could manage to change Dag.

“So for many a year, the Frost prince carried on hurting without his warrior, wondering if she was thinking of him. He set out to ease that pain with the notice of war, sending his hurt to others. When he was ceased, the warrior began to be forgotten to him.”

He tried not to smile to the bottom lip growing from his little nephew.

“Now, now, tiny Daggard. There is more to the story but I fear I must tell it in haste. Come.”

Thor held Dag to his chest, hurrying through the closing bustles of the Asgardians that made their way back to the compound to see the wedding. They were thankful for what Adriana was doing for them and was ready to see Loki as a changed man.

“Little did he know was that the warrior thought of him every waking moment, running from her own battles for the moment he would knock on her door. Unbeknownst to the both of them, the warrior was carrying his heir, a product of true strength and sometimes stench…”

Dag smiled, understanding this part of the story. Thor braced the chilled air as he climbed the steps behind a waiting Loki. Odin was waiting as well, meeting no one’s eyes. Thor was able to see Sif and Heimdall over the bushes and thousands of his surviving people as he knew what was waiting on the other side. He cleared his throat as Loki looked to him out of the corner of his eye.

“The warrior protected her baby for many years, keeping her hope alive for her Frost prince. He had lost his way, seeing the face of his beloveds near his own end. As if the Gods were listening, the Frost prince was given a second chance and was able to save the warrior and his child from certain death.”

Dag kicked his feet in excitement and called out to a grinning Loki, knowing what Thor was doing.

“He found his warrior again and was able to realize what was in front of him the whole time. The warrior was mad at first but sheathed her sword as she looked to the Front prince on his knees, begging her for forgiveness.”

“That’s not what happened,” huffed Loki.

“It will be the story I will tell my grandson until the end of time,” smiled Odin.

He rolled his eyes in time to see Sif waking forward down the path to the steps.

“The Frost prince meant every word he said when he found his warrior again. The wizard made them see how much they loved each other, leading the prince to ask for his fair warrior’s hand in marriage for all of those to see as well as the tiny prince.”

Dag was thrown into laughter as Adriana turned the corner with her hand tight around Heimdall’s arm. Loki wanted to see her as he did, so beautiful in his dreams but she was more than he could have asked for. From the darkening clouds, she was as bright, making everyone around them smile. The dress was different, flowing free around her as she looked like an angel. Loki felt a hand at his shoulder as he looked up to Odin.

“You are ready, my son.”

Loki could only have held back his tears and met Adriana’s glowing stare. Heimdall helped her to the top of the steps and kissed her head as he let her hand go and joined the rest of the grounds. Dag yelled out for his parents.

“Here,” said Loki.

Loki felt his son’s happiness as he took Adriana’s hand and turned to Odin.

“Well, such a sight here today. Joining two unlikely souls, both lost, fighting until their last breaths but standing together in the presence of a remaining solidarity. I will not say that I did not see a day such as this as I am sure that they did not see events ahead of them. They wish not to and swear to do so upon this day until the end of their times.”

They both turned as Dag tried to stay quiet.

“Loki, paths are forged from steps taken before us. There were paths that you forged out of instinct but nearly each path that heeded a bit of guidance. We can spend the rest of time wondering the paths of which we have taken but the one that led you here today shines clear for you and the rest of the life ahead of you. Frigga smiles upon you and the family you have made here.”

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Odin smiled, stroking Dag’s warm cheek, showing a toothless grin. He took Adriana’s hand gingerly, filling him with a familiar warmth.

“My dear, on this day, it will be known what it is to be forged from the profoundest of stars. You were raised by your own soldiers of Midgard and are fighting for forces that are beyond your control. I am proud to accept you as one of our own, my dear. Please…”

He held out his hand to her as she took it, scared about what was about to happen. Loki put his free hand to the small of her back to help her up the final step.

“Don’t worry, you’ll barely feel anything.”

Adriana was petrified, seeing an aura flow from Odin’s arm to her own. She felt strange, not in the sense of feeling a tingle but a definite change. Her arms felt stronger as well as the rest of her body but her head began to spin as she could hear voice like a rush of wind. Loki held his arm around her waist to keep her from fainting as she fell weak for a moment. The glow disappeared, making Dag trying to find it to play with.

Adriana’s eyes fluttered back to focus on Odin as he cupped her face.

“Now you are as we are, child. Loki?”

His grin spread from ear to ear behind his white beard, smiling to them, letting go.

“Adriana. Before I met you, I was impulsive. I nearly made a grave mistake but I’m glad I didn’t act on such thoughts.”

 _As you fucked me into your furniture_ , Adriana thought to herself with a grin.

 _Not to worry,_ she heard in the back of her mind, _I swear…_

“I swear to stay by your side, whatever may happen from now until death and make up for every mistake to you and our son. I will protect you and make myself better for our family.”

“That’s a shame. I like you how you are now.”

Loki smiled to her, clearly hearing the light sea of chuckles behind them. Adriana took his hand and kissed the back of his hand, failing to hide her smile from him.

“You’ve already given me the world, Loki. I have a family, more support than I could ever ask for and… I really couldn’t ask for more except for you to be with me as my husband.”

Loki could feel Dag smiling in his chin as a tear slipped from the side of his eye. He felt none of it was real but Adriana’s thumb to wipe it away was. Loki reached behind him to his brother, feeling the ring steady in his hand as he took Adriana’s.

“Adriana, will you make me jovial by becoming my wife?”

“I do. Nothing would make me happier.”

It was something small, strong belonging to Frigga and the stone was small was well. Adriana didn’t like things big or flashy and it suited her well as he put it on her finger a second time. He knew in his heart that she was proud. Sif reached out her hand, letting Adriana take her own ring for Loki. His own stayed in place and gave him the comfort that everything was as it should have been.

Odin clapped his hands together before Loki and Adriana pulled themselves to one another and kissed, sealing their marriage. They stayed together embraced for a second longer as the sea of the crowd behind them roared in cheers for them. Dag’s voice tried to raised but disappeared in joy into father’s chest.

“Everyone inside,” insisted Odin as he opened the doors to the main part of the warm compound.

Most leaped to the roof and raced over the tiles to the other doors, where the celebration was waiting for everyone. Adriana looked around her, racing as quickly and safely as she could manage as while Loki kept his hand glued to hers. She could never remember in her life smiling so much and having a happy moment to hold onto as they were all greeted by the colors and the changed décor to the main foyer around her. The tiles were covered with beautiful cloth and the flowers that hung from the ceiling looked like they grew from the pages of a fairytale. Loki lifted Dag to the flowers as his tiny hand reached, picking a pure white lily from its vine and waved it towards Adriana.

“An excellent choice,” grinned Loki as he took the lily and placed it in his wife’s hair.

The term brought his so much joy as he pulled his family towards the merriment ahead of them.

-

“Shall there be a title to this?”

“I’m not all sure.”

“Intellectual,” scoffed Sif as she held Dag to her chest and rocked him softly.

Thor smiled to her, seeing a softer nature to Sif.

“Shall we ever find an ending sure as this?”

“How so?”

“This,” pointed Thor towards Loki and Adriana as they danced on the far side of the foyer near the small fountain hidden by the winding vines.

“Still so intellectual.”

“I’m not going to ask because I know you are too afraid to.”

“Fear has nothing to do with this. I wish not to speak for this, Thor.”

“You could not find the title like you could not find the words and just know that you will not need to. I will still be here when you are ready.”

Thor kept his eyes to his brother as he and Adriana slowly looked to Sif, backing slowly to the nearest door. He took his own initiative to grab the base of Sif’s chair and pulled it close so she wouldn’t run. Sif bit her lips wo her laughter would not wake Dag. She always took the best care of Dag and was that much closer to opening the idea of having a family.

“I will not bite if you do not wish me to Sif.”

“Not if I cleave the head from your shoulders first should this be a jest.”

“Never…”

Sif was cautious as she laid back to Thor’s chest, strange to the act of something innocently intimate. Thor switched his goblet to his other hand and laced his fingers with Sif. She smiled, molding to him more as Thor rested his head to her brow. Dag shifted a bit, settling between the two as Loki and Adriana moved down the steps in a drunken stupor.

“Moonlight stroll,” snickered Adriana as she pulled Loki along into the darkness towards the direction of their cabin.

“Wait now.”

Loki circled around her, stopping her as he pulled her close and kissed her. It was a bit longer than he allowed in the earlier part of the day. She was finally his and he wanted to savor every bit of her longer and keep the moments close. In the cold, he could feel her shivering. Her dress wasn’t thin but he knew he had to get her out of the winter air. Adriana stopped as Loki reached under her and lifted her into his arms. Adriana let out a squeal of laughter as Loki set off into a run towards the shore.

She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly as the wind whipped around her face. In the blink of an eye, Loki stopped at the path leading to their home. He kept a tight hold on her so she would stay in his arms and carried her around the side of the cabin as they were greeted with the freezing sea breeze.

Loki snapped his fingers and opened the front door, letting Adriana look around to the changed cabin. She was let go, settling on her feet as she saw sheets covering the furniture and she took extra care to the floor with not a single toy in sight. The fireplace was roaring for the first time since winter had started. She smiled, looking into the corner where the Christmas tree was hidden by one of his spells. The only lights were from the fireplace and the several candles that surrounded the downstairs around them.

“This is for you. Us. Tonight. I am at your disposal.”

Adriana turned in his arms with the biggest smile to her face.

“Your disposal? I thought you already were.”

“Now, now. You are now my wife, my lovely, radiant, well-deserving wife. I would give you anything that you’d ask and you want nothing.”

“Nothing,” she assured.

“I don’t believe that for a moment.”

Loki held her face between his palms and kissed her slowly, lulling her as he looked deep into her mind, searching with a wolfish grin to his face. He stopped and slowly circled Adriana all while holding her close. He kissed the side of her neck that the long braid didn’t cover, making her sigh as she molded to Loki’s chest.

“I have been asking too much of what you want when you should have been given what you truly need.”

“And what do I need?”

Loki felt his heart beat raise as he carefully laced his fingers in the base of her hair and pulled her head back so her ear met his lips. The sudden change surprised Adriana as she braced Loki’s arms.

“A firm hand as you so truly require.”

Loki looked to the racing in her chest. His fingers traveled up the goosebumps of her arm, giving him the confidence as he summoned two dark ties from his pocket. He slipped the soft cloth around her eyes and the second around her wrists as he secured them enough around her back. Loki surged himself with energy, sending them to their bedroom in a flash.

He waved his hand, giving the illusion of his old bedchamber as it was in the palace. Loki took the white lily from her hair and placed on the side table for safe-keeping, knowing the night would ruin it. He ran his fingers through her braid and let it rain on her shoulder and down her back. He took a few seconds to tease her skin, leaving her to wonder what would happen next but he knew and wished she would beg for more.

He grabbed Adriana by her waist and dropped her on the bed, not too roughly to harm her or the baby but enough to surprise her as she pulled at her wrists. Loki was over her, dragging his tongue up her neck, tracing up to the side of her jaw and ending at her earlobe.

“Such a good girl,” he whispered into the shell of her ear.

He snapped his fingers, sending both of her wrists to the headboard as they were tied over her head. Adriana felt the tug and the sure rip of the straps of her wedding dress as she heard Loki chuckle. Her skin was slowly greeted with a chill in the room as Loki pulled the dress slowly down her body. He greeted first with the sight of her breasts, full again and pleasingly natural as he unknowingly growled. He stopped himself, needing to see the rest of her as he pulled the dress down the rest of the way and admired her as he always did.

The setting around him reminded him of how he had pinned her to his bed and watched his clones have their way with her. He never admitted to enjoy watching the spectacle but he always knew he could do better and now he had the chance. He watched the cold having a pleasant reaction to her breast as her sensitive skin began to harden. Loki darted his tongue forward to play with her nipples, wetting her chest and blowing to make them stiffen.

Adriana arched herself up to Loki, crashing into him as he snaked his arm underneath her and held her close. He tried desperately to hold himself together, almost feeling he would die if he didn’t have enough of her. He clenched his teeth and formed his fingers around his jaw to hold her face still.

“Look at you, my dear. Writhing already and I’ve barely touched you.”

Adriana stayed silent, whimpering as his hand let her go and pinched at her. She pulled, needing Loki all while and moved himself lower, kissing her chest and smiling as he ended at her stomach. He thought to linger but couldn’t as the smell of her open legs drew him forward. Loki hunched down, wrapping his arms around her legs and pulled her down the mattress as her arms were stretched over her head. He closed his eyes and followed her scent.

He swept his tongue up her lips, tasting her lingering wetness. Loki pressed his lips to her, slowly tracing her clit with the tip of his tongue. He held her hips down to the mattress to keep her in check as he purposely took his time tasting her. Adriana bucked her hips against Loki’s strong hand as his other pushed two fingers into her. Loki smiled, feeling Adriana tense around him. She fought, gradually giving in as Loki fingers moved faster. He could feel himself slipping back to the hungry, dark prince he once was.

He came up for breath, looking down to Adriana, to his wife, his good girl as she writhed on the bed. He continued pumping his fingers into her, curling them so she could feel him as he pressed his thumb to her clit. His cock strained greatly in his weak trousers, needing to get out to fill her as her voice raised beautifully in his ears. Loki saw the tremble of her legs, making ties wrap around her ankles as they were spread farther apart, making it impossible to close her legs as she came around his fingers. Loki didn’t stop, needing more as he moved his fingers faster.

“L-Loki,” she moaned.

He stopped his hand, still torturing her as he lowered himself to her ear.

“Your body still yields to me without hesitation. I could keep you like forever, writhing until you lose yourself.”

He pushed her clit, bringing her to climax again all of her limbs kept her frozen. Her body pulled and keened. Loki pulled his hand away pulling the tie from her eyes as she focused on the illusion of their room, then to his licking each of his fingers clean to taunt her. He eyed her every curve, relishing in what was always his as he stoked the side of her flushed face.

“Being my blushing bride suits you, my pet. Just as how hungry you are when I fill you.”

Adriana watched as Loki stripped off his clothes, making her see every muscle and inch of his skin. Loki met Adriana’s eyes, licking his lips as he crawled the bed for her. He dragged his tongue up from her hip past her rounded belly and between the valley of her breasts, slowly turning her to her side.

He pushed her hair back and away from her shoulders as he smiled to the noticeable beat of sweat on her skin. He wrapped an arm under her and formed his hand to her hip, jerking her back to him. Adriana looked over her shoulder to Loki pulling her closer, teasing her with the tip of his cock as she tried to rock her hips back. He sneered, bringing his hand down on her ass, making her jump as it brought a smile to her face.

“No,” he hissed, “You will get I allow you to have, my pet. As much as I would like to punish you with delaying your release but I fear I need your lovely cunt around me.”

Loki shifted his hips forward, filling her as she threw her head back, gasping.

He pulled her leg up, guiding her onto his cock. Adriana could feel his hand grip her tighter, his hips grinding, pounding easier and harder as she was slowly starting to come undone. Loki fought turning her and fucking her into the mattress, mostly from the baby and that he wanted her crashing into him again, giving him every possible form of contact.

He reached up and snapped the ties from the headboard as Adriana’s hands scrambled to grab onto Loki. He panted into her neck, inhaling nothing but her. Adriana reached up behind her, pulling Loki by the neck as she pressed her passionate, hungry lips to hers. He returned the kiss, snaking his hand between her legs and rubbing them swiftly to her clit. Adriana broke the kiss to draw in her breath and pant as she rocked her body to the touch of his hand and his cock.

Her whole body arched back, leaving her breathless as she came, gripping the life from Loki. He bared his teeth, feeling her tighten around him and sending him into a frenzy as he snaked his hips faster. He pulled Adriana closer, emptying himself into her as he tried to stay in control but all he could feel, all that he could understand was her. Loki braced his leg to the bed, keeping himself upright as he panted and shuddered against her. He slowly opened his eyes, still holding Adriana close as the illusion began to fade around them.

He was confused when he heard a chuckle come from a panting Adriana.

“Would you think me weird if I told you I like our room more?”

Loki joined in her laughter, wrapping his arms around her as the last of the illusion disappeared.

“Indeed but I also enjoyed our previous room if it not been for our dexterous son mimicking the thumping on the wall next to ours.”

Loki helped a happy Adriana turn to her other side so he could see all of her. He pulled the sheets from underneath her and covered her enough to his liking. He put his arm around her, taking in everything about her, his wife. He caressed the side of her flushed face.

“Thank you,” sighed Loki.

“For what?”

Loki pulled her closer, encasing her completely as he heard the cold wind howling on the outside of the house.

“For saving me. For forgiving me.”

“What makes you think I’ve taken you back?”

“The wedding night? The heirloomed wedding ring? Our beautiful child and the one pending? Or would you prefer something of a more natural persuasion.”

“Mmm,” she teased, “we’ll see when I have the baby and adjust to two. I’m sure you can live up to your potential.”

Loki felt himself grow a bit hard as Adriana bit her lip, and sluggishly raised her leg to brush against his cock. He smiled, choosing rest and comfort with Adriana as his eyes blissfully drifted shut.


	7. Ashes and ashes

His dreams were clear. There was nothing, no ashes, no screaming as Adriana fell to a dust pile but he could hear her pain. Loki’s eyes flew open as he looked to the empty bed. He ran to the bathroom where he found Adriana getting sick and clutching at her stomach in pain.

“Adriana!”

Loki dove for her, checking her as her stomach had visibly grown to full term overnight.

“Something’s wrong,” she gasped as she wiped mouth.

“It’s only a metamorphosis. You being Aesir now has made you different, beautiful, if that.”

Adriana broke down into tears, clutching at the fresh stretch marks that were close to bleeding. Loki reached behind him and started a fresh shower. He pulled her to her feet and took care in helping her as she broke down in his arms. Loki held her close and used a spell to heal her skin. He felt shamed for a moment, seeing the growth in her breasts but choosing to control himself as he eased her pain there too.

“Loki, I’m scared…”

“Don’t be. I will be here and everything is going to be alright. What can I do to convince you more, Adriana?”

She only shook her head and wiped the tears and shower water from her eyes. Loki smiled and kissed her forehead as he reached for the shower knobs.

“I guess its’ time to show you your Christmas Present, my love.”

Loki helped her into her robe and lead her to the room he’d kept locked for month without telling her.

“What did you do?”

“Surprises.”

Loki waved his hand, opening the door to a fresh nursery that slowly brought a smile to her face. She was helped to the waiting rocking chair as Loki knelt beside her, noticing the better change in her reactions. He stroked her stomach and eased her as she rocked.

“What else is gonna happen, Loki? I don’t want to be scared, it’s not like me...”

“I know. We need to be prepared that the baby will be here sooner than expected and with you being Aesir, you will need to be careful.”

“With what?”

“You are going to be much stronger than you know and there could be a chance that you will manifest abilities. So, until the baby is out, we need to plan accordingly. You’ll be more hormonal than before and there may be other things that you’ll need,” he suggested as his finger creeped up towards the hem of her robe.

A wider smile crossed Adriana’s face as she pulled his hand away and left a kiss to his palm.

“I don’t know what I would do without you, Loki.”

“Make a dent in our pillows with the appetite that is to come.”

Adriana’s stomach growled, ruining as Loki got to his feet and headed to the door.

“We’ll start with the basics. Sif should be back with Daggard soon.”

Adriana stayed in the rocking chair a few more minutes, admiring the room. It was neutral from what she could tell, lined with a crib and a changing table filled with diapers and clothes. She inhaled the fresh scent of linens and the plush toys waiting in the crib near a second sling Loki had tied to perfection for when the baby was born.

Adriana pushed herself up from the rocking chair and made her way back to the bedroom as the smell of buttered fish filled her nose with joy. She quickly adjusted to the sudden growth of her pregnancy as her hands yanked down one of the dressed she picked for what she would wear weeks from then.

The dress was thin and a bit short but she didn’t care, she was more than happy, just as she was terrified. Her hunger turned her away from the mirror she was dreading, leading her through the left over musk from the previous night to the top of the stairs as she looked below. Toys littered the floor again as did the decorations and the furniture. She held the railing and poked her head around the corner to see the Christmas tree, beautiful and decorated. It was either too big from Loki’s choice or the presents were too small from the sake of having a normal non-extravagant holiday, but she didn’t mind the number of fresh garlands and Christmas decorations that covered the walls of their home.

She left the rest of the decorated den behind her and wandered into the kitchen where Loki was finishing up food for Adriana. The wonderful smell of fresh fish and potatoes made her smile as he set to plate down on the counter for her.

“How much time do you think we have?”

“Not long. The oven is heating now. Thor and Sif will be helping when they arrive. This time in a few hours we will feast.”

“Brother?!”

A loud bang came from the front door as Loki chuckled.

“I suppose I have spoken too soon. Eat.”

“Not before seeing my baby.”

She followed Loki to the door, nearly overtaken as Thor pushed his way into the cabin with a large smile to his face, nearly tackling Loki to the ground. Adriana laughed as he fought back, pulling them both away as Sif appeared with a newly awake Dag in her arms.

“Happy Holidays, my sister.”

“Merry Christmas, Sif.”

Dag kicked and wiggled towards Adriana, doing whatever it was possible to get her full attention. Adriana lingered, wanting to watch Dag for another few seconds.

“And Merry Christmas to you too, my Dag!”

She grabbed Dag and held him tightly as he pushed his face into every possible surface of her skin. Loki slipped from Thor’s grip and took a moment to kiss his son, taking him from Adriana.

“Thank you for watching him.”

“It was no trouble at all. I have taken a liking to caring for children. Both him and Thor slept like the night.”

A squeal from the baby got their attention as he reached his little hands for the open door. Snow started to fall, drawing everyone outside with Loki following behind Adriana with a coat. Dag reached up, trying to catch the snow before he and his mother were pushed back into the warmth of the cabin. Adriana pouted her with Dag to mimic her as Loki only shook his head.

“No. The snow will be there when the baby is born. I was serious about keep you well. Now eat.”

“Fine,” she huffed as she pushed Dag into his arms.

He watched her waddle away to the kitchen towards the plate for food as Thor and Sif came back into the cabin hand in hand.

“When did this happen,” smirked Loki as he eyed their blushing faces.

“Time seems short. We have years but we have chosen a path together.”

“Perhaps I should have a wedding night more often. It took you two long enough…”

Thor rolled his eyes and hauled a large sack over his shoulder for Loki and his family. Adriana would not have approved of it but it was all worth it for them. Dag wiggled in Loki’s arms at the sight of the Christmas tree and the presents underneath. Such things had been a luxury.

“You must be excited for your traditions, my son. She wanted something small but we are royalty as you are and you will get nothing but the best.”

“Yes! Let us start the festivities this day. Sif, shall we?”

“Once the whole family has joined us. Adriana?”

Instead of an answer, came a noticeable crash from the kitchen.

“Adriana?”

Her voice rang out in the kitchen as Loki shoved Dag into Sif’s arms and ran for Adriana. He looked to the floor near the pantry, seeing the plate of fish and potatoes in a smashed mess with the dish pieces. He ran around the island, seeing Adriana clawing at her crumbling skin as tears flowed from her eyes. Loki was petrified, seeing all of his nightmares come true. He dove for Adriana as the darkness in her skin traveled down her arms and up her neck.

“L-Loki,” she choked as she fought to breathe.

“Heimdall! Adriana, look at me!”

She peeled her eyes away from her shaking body and looked to Loki one last time before she turned all the way into a solid mass around his arms. Sif moved for the floor, looking at the bits of Adriana’s dress that showed through.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know…”

He kept still as the mass began to move. Bits of the mass crumbled in dust, then to larger pieces as fear sunk into his soul. Loki’s mouth hung open, leaving his thoughts to pray to every and any existing god for his wife to not turn into a pile of ash. His hand closed out of instinct, feeling something soft. He closed his hand tighter, feeling warmth, feeling Adriana. He failed to hold in his sobs as his and Sif’s hands pulled away at the bits of pieces that surrounded Adriana. Sif held her hand to Adriana’s stomach with worry filled in her face.

“Loki, she has grown.”

“Of course she has.”

“No, Loki.”

Adriana’s eyes flew open as she gasped for breath, groaning in pain as her curled her fingers around Loki’s wrists.

“Loki…”

She could barely finish her sentence when the veins in her body began to glow. She cried out in pain, seeing her skin steam as she pushed herself away. Loki reached out for her, only to have the flesh on his arms burned when Adriana touched him. He bit back the pain and saw flames fall from her fingertips. Loki ran for her as Sif stayed and tried to put out the growing fires.

Adriana tripped as her hands thundered against the door, making the wood shatter to pieces. The explosion made the cabin shake and the fires seep into the wood.

Thor held a wailing Dag close, scrambling for the back door as Loki followed Adriana outside. He looked up to see the snow up and around Adriana turn to water before it could touch the ground. She made it to the start of the dirt path as her glowing pale skin turned to the color of ash, darker than the mass that consumed her. Parts of her clothes caught on fire as well as the bits of garden that she touched. Through the bits of charred skin, lines of magma crossed her arms and neck, making her hurt more as she scorched the ground underneath her.

Loki!

He turned, seeing Sif and Thor backing away from the cabin as the entirety was no in uncontrollable flames. Sif ran to Adriana, accepting the burning pain as she ran them to the ocean. Loki followed, seeing the sudden steam in the ocean around Adriana as she took a calming breath. He clamored to his wife, drawing her in as his skin soothed her.

“Adriana, look at me,” he begged as he turned her darkened face to his.

He saw her eyes, amber and burning as her tears turned to steam. She looked over his shoulder to the burning cabin as Thor stayed a safe distance away from it. Sif waved her arms to Heimdall as Odin as they appeared from the distance.

“Wh…”

“Loki, we must find Odin.”

Loki only acknowledged her, doing what he could to calm Adriana’s labored sobs.

“Adriana?”

The more she opened her mouth, the more she howled in agony. She wrapped her fingers around Loki’s arms, burning him only a fraction with little harm to his Jotun form but showing the changed strength of Aesir. He could feel her plant both to the ocean floor and hunched over as both Odin stormed the ocean with Heimdall behind him. Loki saw as Heimdall reached underneath Adriana with a calming demeanor in him.

Odin caressed the side of Adriana’s face, making her pacifying her a nearly catatonic state as Loki saw the fidgeting newborn as it, she drew in breath and squealed to the open air of falling snow and ash. Heimdall reached for his knife, cutting the cord and tucking the baby into his coat to keep her warm.

“Odin, there is someone that can help. This is beyond what we understand, sir.”

“I know.”

Loki held Adriana close, feeling the frigid water around them warm. His ears filled with burning wood, the cries of his children and that of his own.

-

No.

She refused it all. The blinding lights above her as she came to.

She was too weak, smelling nothing but ash as she drifted in and out of sleep. She could feel the comforting bits of cold, almost knowing it was him, keeping her safe.

_Loki…_

“Stop fidgeting.”

Her eyes snapped open to the doctor above her as anger filled her every vein.

“Bitch.”

“Nothing about you has changed.”

Adriana waited until the doctor turned her back and slipped free of her cuffs, slipping from the bed to make her life hell if only her legs hadn’t given out on her. The doctor turned with a waiting syringe, sticking Adriana’s neck as the world slipped again.

“Still such a disappointment after all this time.”

“And your excuse of abandonment was not as such?”

Loki brushed past the doctor for Adriana, unconvinced that the aged mirrored look of his wife could be so cold, having himself question his actions towards Odin. Loki ignored the restraints altogether, covering her with the thin blanket and changing so he could lower her temperature.

“You are interfering with my work, terrorist.”

“You can leave since you are so good at it.”

“They are protecting you. I will reduce you to muck.”

“Try as you might but she has turn to a better woman than you ever were.”

“She was weak as per evidence of her father and her life choices. She lacks perception.”

“Yet you lack conviction, Jarrison.”

The doctor flared her nostrils and turned to the sound of Agent Coulson’s voice.

“That is not my name!”

“It says so in your redacted files. Nice to see that your patient is getting the best treatment.”

“She is not getting special treatment. She should be in prison.”

“No matter her anatomy, you are not preforming to the better your daughter.”

“That,” she snapped, breaking her cold demeanor, “is not my daughter!”

“Then you are relieved of your duties, Helen. Get out before I have to drag May in here. Leave your badge.”

Loki looked over his shoulder to the aged doctor as she clenched her fists.

“Fine.”

She raised her hand to the container of breastmilk for the baby in the next room. She flicked her wrist, sending the glass container to the floor all without batting an eyelash as shattered glass and milk splattered the floor.

Loki did everything in his power not to get up and tear her to pieces.

“Oops,” she sighed aloofly as she disappeared through a door on the other side of the room.

Coulson moved to the side of Adriana’s bed, looking to the reduced charring on her skin.

“You’ve found your conviction. The last time I saw her, she was a shadow, small and barely able to defend herself. Now, everyone has stories about her and what she’s done for you all.”

“And I will be forever grateful.”

Loki smoothed Adriana’s hair back, unsure of what was to come. Two weeks was already gone and with her slowly coming back, she would not be ready with what she had become.

“I think it’s safe to say that she can be moved with the rest of your family.”

“Will they be safe?”

“We use that room for people just like her. I’ll brief you when your people are ready. They must want to know.”

“I fear they may not see her the same.”

“What about you?”

“She is mine, my life.”

Loki could hear the staff behind him to clean up and readying to move Adriana so she could be closer. He went ahead, hearing Dag calling out for his baby sister in the crib next to him. His nerves were shot, his thoughts were in every direction at once easing when he lifted Dag into his arms and made him look to the small, sleeping baby. With all of the tubes and cables clear of her skin, she was perfect and ready to meet her mother once she was ready.

Loki lifted his daughter in his other arm, waiting as Adriana’s bed was brought in. The room emptied, leaving them together as Loki placed each child on other side of Adriana’s still arms. He moved into her bed, giving himself assurance that everything, the past, their nightmares were behind them and there was nowhere else to go but upward…


	8. Follow through

All Adriana could do was keep her eyes to the ceiling. She cooperated, following the lights of the newer nurse and didn’t ask where her mother was or if she was coming back.

She told the nurse she wanted to be alone. She wasn’t ready to face Loki or ask about her flatter stomach. Though it was gone, she could still feel so much pain.

“Jarrison.”

She turned her head up to Coulson as he sat on her side of the bed.

“Sir.”

“You’ve been out of the game for a while now. You can call me Phil now if you feel more comfortable.”

Her eyes caught his gloved hand moving forward as she moved away, terrified.

“No!”

“Adriana. Just take a breath. You’ll be safe here.”

“I’m gonna burn you!”

She was surprised by his soft chuckle.

“It’s okay. This room is built for people like you.”

“What…”

Adriana looked around seeing the walls were smaller than she remembered. She sat up and looked through the windows to a larger room. Tears filled her eyes as she saw Loki asleep with both babies on the bed next to him. Their small figures curled up blue next to his as if nothing had happened.

“You know,” said Coulson from behind her, “the system is cutting off the neutralizing whatever powers you manifest. The same thing happened to them. She’s just as strong as you.”

“She… It’s a girl.”

Adriana ran at the sound of the hissing doors with Phil standing out of her way. She stopped at the foot of the bed, holding herself back as she felt her skin warm.

“Try not to worry. We’ve had more challenging people with stronger powers. We talked with Sif and with Barton. We only want to keep you here for a little while until you have yourself under control.”

“How long will that be?”

“For as long as you need. You’re lucky. You used to be alone, standing in other’s shadows and now people are willing to move mountains to make sure you are cared for.”

Phil gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and left the room as the lights slowly dimmed. Adrianna let some time pass as she tried to come to terms with what happened. Something happened. She had changed and she now had powers, dangerous ones she couldn’t control. She looked to each of her family sleeping peacefully on the bed, snapped from her thoughts when the baby fussed in Loki’s arms.

She rushed to the side of the bed, unafraid as she scooped the little baby girl into her arms and soothed her as she did with Dag.

“Shh…”

The baby did as she asked, slowly quieting as she turned her tiny head into her mother’s touch. Adriana could feel herself go weak. She turned her back to the wall and slumped to the floor. Her baby’s skin was so warm through her fresh onesie as she clutched her tighter, failing to hold back her tears. Adriana closed her eyes, remembering everything. A chalky feeling had filled her mouth as she swallowed the fish Loki had made for her. Her heart had never raced so quickly in all her life. Her skin scorched as if she had been set on fire.

She remembered the cabin catching on fire around her as she tried to outrun whatever was happening to her. Adriana also remembered the painful contractions, being carried into the sea as the ocean water turned to steam around her. Tears streamed from her eyes, also having lost her family from the fire. The baby had already fallen asleep against her mother’s chest.

Loki woke slowly, turning to the quiet sobs of Adriana as he moved to the floor next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her form the floor, bringing them to the wide bed where Dag was sleeping peacefully. Loki stayed silent, letting Adriana get whatever emotion out that she needed to.

He kissed her head and smoothed her hair back, settling Dag with the baby between them to keep them together.

“Try to sleep,” he encouraged.

“I don’t want to sleep anymore,” she whispered.

Loki wiped away the last of her tears, pulling a spare blanket around her.

“I didn’t want to name her without you.”

“How long has it been?”

“You were in and out for two weeks. The cabin is gone but no one perished.”

Her mind tried not to go back to their home, the one that was ready to welcome the baby, knowing she had burned it all to the ground by accident.

“Don’t think of it as such, my love. We are alive and you are getting help. We are together and that is what matters.”

Dag kicked a bit in his sleep, calming as he laid still next to Loki. She grabbed her husband’s hand and kept it tucked in her hand and willed herself to feel something else.

“Hope.”

“What?”

“That’s her name. Hope.”

He smiled and kissed her forehead, holding his family only a little bit closer.

“Fitting. My dear…”

-

Adriana knew her face was red and not from using her powers. Sweat was nearly pouring from her head and her neck. Another few weeks and her fear had been replaced with bitter determination. Every time she’d try to control her powers, she’d lose control for a second. Three weeks and she still felt as dangerous when she first woke up.

“I think we should stop,” said Sif as she watched from the side.

“I need to get this under control.”

Sif looked to Agent Johnson as she shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s her choice.”

“She needs rest. I’m not presenting her to Loki on another stretcher.”

“Then I’ll deliver myself!”

Adriana swung her arm out of frustration, knocking a target to the ground as it shattered to pieces. She was given several referrals to talk about what had happened and to let her frustrations out but slowly channeled everything away. Adriana was keeping things to herself from everyone including Loki but she made sure her children got the attention they deserved.

“At least nourish yourself.”

“Or see your kids…”

“Start the program again, please.”

She pulled her hair from its bun and waited.

“Now!”

“Enough!”

The three turned to Loki as he pushed up his sleeves of his jumpsuit. Adriana rolled her eyes and turned so no one else would see her face. He nodded his head, letting the two leave.

“I need to train.”

“I was a warrior on Asgard.”

“ _Was._ Now please just go.”

“Eight days.”

“Please, not now.”

“I haven’t seen you in eight days!”

“So what?!”

Adriana could feel her arms engulfed as she stepped back to control herself.

“No, you don’t.”

Loki grabbed her arm and twisted it until she hit the ground face first. He kneeled over her, smiling as she tried to break free.

“Ready to talk with no pitiful woes?”

“Fuck you.”

She flipped herself out of his hold and kicked him off as he bounced to his side. Adriana got to her feet in time to see Loki waiting for her. He reached for her as she used his arm to flip him back to the mat again.

“You are getting used to your strength.”

“I don’t want to talk, Loki. That’s the last time I’m telling you.”

He watched her eyes to the metal door on the other side of the room.

“What happens when you don’t have a lifeline, Adriana? What happens if everything burns to ash around you…”

“Stop it.”

“Again!”

“Stop it!”

She swung her fiery arm, punching Loki in his jaw. He cringed, letting his body heal as the rest of him turn to his Jotun form. He took a step forward, testing Adriana as she stepped away from him.

“You are still so young to your powers. You don’t even know your full potential. With a little help, you can be in control in no time at all. If only you had will to ask for help.”

“I know I’m not strong enough.”

Adriana took another swing, missing Loki as he wrapped his hand around her throat. The feeling of overpowering her reminded him of the hotel room they nearly tore in two. His old demeanor snuck through, needing to defeat her and want her again. Her feet planted into the floor as she brought up her hands and sent Loki further across the room into the equipment with her fire. Adriana panted, never having used her power to such an extent as Loki looked to his tethered suit.

“You call that power?”

“Stop it. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She looked to Loki’s hands as they slowly formed to ice.

“Is that what you were doing?”

He spun, sending the ice from his hands toward Adriana. The ice distracted her, making everything he threw to her turn to water. She thought she was in control, until her back hit the nearest wall. She tried to change her direction until she slipped and tried to keep up with a speeding up Loki.

He could see her struggle even if she didn’t want to but she had to see her own vulnerability.

“Is this what you call protecting yourself? You nearly burned the cabin down with us inside.”

“Loki, stop,” she shouted as her skin begin to char.

“You’ve trained for a month. You refuse to see anyone that you think is unworthy to help. Why are you training? You are only doing this for yourself. Still the same little mouse I met.”

Loki was practically in front of her, giving out every bit of ice he had. He watched Adriana regain herself, turning the rest of her skin to a blazing glow as well as her ferociously beautiful eyes. The fire from her arms sent him to the floor, groaning in pain as bits of his flesh had burned through his suit.

Adriana’s head spun as her body hit the charred mat. She’d be apologizing like she did every time more equipment was brought after she trained with her powers. She was surprised as she looked down to her arms, sustaining the flames for once as the fire ran up and down her limbs. The growing tingle sent her into a panic as she got to her feet and fled for her room.

Loki watched her and shot to his feet as well.

“No, you don’t,” he groaned.

He switched off the cameras racing to Adriana as the doors began to close behind her.

Daisy threw up her hands as the screens went to black.

“What the hell?! It was just getting good.”

Sif sighed tapping her shoulder.

“Fear not, Agent. They can take care of themselves. Should they need our assistance, we will be here.”

Adriana started shedding the exo-fabric from her training suit as she did every time before the hoses turned on. She felt Loki behind her and tried to push him. His back hit the metal door as he shoved Adriana back and crashed over her to make sure she didn’t go anywhere else.

He pressed his cold lips to hers, missing her so much and wishing she had felt the same. Adriana was terrified that she could hurt him as the hoses were taking their time to activate. Cold water flooded the room as Loki pulled the rest of her suit to the floor and held her close. He used to magic to pull off his own suit.

Loki could see her open her mouth to protest but she gave in once his lips found her neck. Adriana was used to the water but she missed Loki. She felt the fire on her arms go out and wrapped them around Loki as he lifted her from the floor. Loki worked himself between her legs, toying with her as he pressed his straining cock to her. He shifted his hips up, making her more sensitive as her nails racked his scalp.

“Please…”

“Are you asking for help? Ask me,” he begged, needing her to break her silence.

“Please, Loki. I’m sorry.”

He shifted his hips back further and filled Adriana with one try. Adriana gasped, forgetting nearly two months had passed since he had her. Loki buried his face into her neck, smelling her as he slipped his arms under her knees and held her to the wall. He enjoyed the sensation of the water raining down his back and Adriana’s sex tight around his cock.

He brushed his thumb over her clit for old times’ sake and felt a difference in her body. She was blissful, feeling contact with Loki again. Tears ran from her eyes and mixed with the water as Loki grinded himself deeper into her.

She bucked her hips forward, sending herself over and moaning as her body crashed into Loki. He grinned, using her release to bring him closer and moved his thumb faster. He braced them both to the wall as he came and shuddered into the side of her neck. Loki forced himself to focus as Adriana’s arms started to tremble. He pulled her from the wall and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

With the snap of his fingers, he sent them to their shared room and shut off all the power including the cameras. Loki carried Adriana to the bed and placed her under the covers. He followed her, encasing them in the sheets as he let Adriana sob like a child in his arms. He knew for a while that she was holding everything back and that was, in turn, holding her back from controlling her powers.

Adriana didn’t know what to say or how to explain herself when she stopped crying. She just let herself fall asleep in Loki’s arms.

_Her head didn’t hurt but she knew what was coming._

_Loki licked his lips, ready to tear her to shreds. Her back hit the hotel wall as he reached for the knife in the back of his belt._

_Adriana set her teeth and knocked him back as her fire surprised him. He stood shocked for a moment but regained himself as he stripped his clothes, revealing his changing skin to her. The room had caught on fire. The flames gleamed off of the weapons he had found and the wallpaper was peeling slowly._

_She stood her ground as Loki twined his fingers into her hair and yanked her head back. She gasped and felt her body react as her hands formed to his arms. Loki pulled her close and kissed her neck, slowly pushing his hand to the front of her shorts. She moaned and hold onto Loki as his hand pressed harder to her clit, making her cry out for more._

_The room burned and crashed around them but they didn’t care. His hands clenched her shirt and ripped it in two._

Adriana could hear the hum of the lights on the outside of their quarters as she made out the footsteps headed their way. She carefully pried Loki’s arm from her waist and hurried to dress in whatever she left on the floor. She followed the light to the door and flung it open, seeing Daisy about to reach for the switch as she tried to balance Dag and Hope’s carrier.

“Hey,” she whispered excitedly as she tried to hand off the kids, “How are you holding up?”

“Better actually.”

“You look rested.”

Adriana felt herself blush as she took a sleepy Dag into her arms.

“I’m… Thanks. Look, I wanted to say sorry for how I’ve acted yesterday and in the past few weeks.”

“It’s cool. You did what you had to do. I already know we’ll need new mats.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Fitz is almost done with the prototype rubber that can withstand a single Kalven.”

“Ugh, science,” she joked.

Daisy placed the diaper bag next to Adriana and walked away as she was left alone with her kids. She was careful to adjust the lights of the quarters so that the bedroom was still dark. Dag stayed asleep as he was placed in his crib.

She turned for Hope that had opened her eyes and looked up to her mother.

“Hey, Sweet Pea.”

The baby smiled as Adriana pulled her from her carrier and held her in her arms. Hope had been so small and was growing into the healthy baby that Dag had been and even now he was growing faster than she had expected. _It had been five years_ , she thought to herself as she smiled and turned to the changing table with Hope.

Adriana had trained herself when avoiding Loki to be silent and was now a second nature to her, waiting as he slept.

Loki woke, finding the bed empty and his heart slightly broken. His head turned to the sound of soft music as he pulled on his trousers and wandered into the living room. He found Adriana in the rocking chair near both of their children as she held Hope’s bottle. He smiled at his wife, humming with the soft music.

“ _These feelings, emotions they just keep me alive, they keep me in tune._ ”

She stopped singing for a moment as she saw Loki moving from the door. She smiled back and kept singing to her daughter.

“ _Oh, look what I’m holding here in my fire, this is for you…_ ”

Loki took Adriana and pulled her into his lap, holding his girls as the warmth of their skin made him content. Adriana pulled the empty bottle away and put hope down to sleep. She returned to his lap and wrapped her arms around him.

“I’m sorry, Loki,” she whispered into his hair.

“I wish you would have said something sooner. Nothing for a carnal conclusion but for your health. The last thing you need to do is self-destruct with your powers.”

“I know.”

“For now, you need to ease your training, just for a while. I was not the only one your absence was scaring.”

“That was the last thing I wanted to do. I won’t be my mother.”

“Good,” he smiled as he used his legs to rock the chair slower.

-

“So this floor will be yours.”

“It’s hideous,” teased Adriana as she looked down to the city around her.

“It’s gracious,” said Loki as he turned to Coulson.

“I guess you finally found what you weren’t looking for.”

“Certainly,” he smiled as the rain streamed down the windows.

Adriana kept her hand to Dag’s as he took his time to walk beside her. A clap of thunder got their attention as Dag smiled and begged for more. Another clap sounded near the building, sending him into a fit of laughter.

“Okay, that enough,” said Adriana as she pulled them away.

“Stark will be back by the end of next week and ready to work when you are, Jarrison.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you again.”

“Enjoy. The movers confirmed within the hour. Enjoy.”

He placed the keys in Loki’s hand, letting them wonder the large space.

“We’ll need to proof everything.”

“They need to eat, that way they won’t get distracted with the movers.”

He placed a bag of food on the counter and got to making lunch for Dag and Hope. The hour flew and both kept eyes on the movers and the children. The sun set, movers were gone and both children were put down for the night. Adriana looked around to the towers of boxes that had yet to be unpacked. She was glad to label and sort the boxes as they came in, giving her some relief to the day.

Loki returned from the bedroom with the biggest smile she’d ever seen.

“Oh, shit,” she groaned, “What did you do now?”

“The bed is finally together,” he grinned as he paced to Adriana.

He flung her over his shoulder and carried her away towards the bedroom as she squealed with laughter.

“The lights!”

“To Hell with the lights.”

“The baby monitor!”

He stopped and put her on her feet as he backed into the babies’ room.

“You had better be bare or else I’ll have to punish you.”

Adriana backed away herself to the bedroom and tried to strip herself as quickly as she could. The light to their bedroom flickered on and her saw her reflection in the open windows as the lights of the city shown in the distance.

“What the fuck, Loki?!”

“Still not bare?”

“Where are the damn curtains?!”

She covered herself the best she could as Loki stepped forward to her. Loki found her slight embarrassment adorable as he hid her from the view.

“I think I should take you as the city watches. Should take be acceptable?”

He pushed the hair from her shoulder and kissed her skin as he gently pulled her arms apart.

“You did this on purpose?”

“I did,” he purred into her ear as he pulled her shorts down.

Adriana’s grin twisted as she licked her palm and shoved it down the front of Loki’s pants and gripped his cock. She willed her hand to warm as Loki shifted his hips forward. His slyness dropped with her shorts as Adriana playful groaned into his ear.

“Put up the blinds,” she whispered as she licked the shell of his ear, “or else.”

“And what power do you have, wife?”

Her hand warmed more as it tightened, making Loki curse and that much harder. He snapped his fingers, sending the curtains to the windows, closing them away as he grabbed Adriana as tossed her to the newly made bed.

“You should be lucky that Stark agreed to this.”

“I’m glad he agreed to the soundproof walls. It’ll be your voice drowning in the wall, my dear.”

Loki pulled off his shirt and crashed over his woman as he kissed at her chest. Adriana smiled and pulled her dark prince a bit closer, not seeing the familiar dark bonds he pulled from his pocket…

 

_Fin_


End file.
